The slide won .css-umdwtv{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#FF3A30;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:background 0.4s;transition:background 0.4s;background:linear-gradient(#ffffff, #ffffff 50%, #d5dbe3 50%, #d5dbe3);-webkit-background-size:100% 200%;background-size:100% 200%;}.css-umdwtv:hover{color:#000000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;-webkit-background-position:100% 100%;background-position:100% 100%;}Best New Ride (WaterPark) in 2014 and was voted the fifth best water-park ride in the world in its first two years by Amusement Today. Witnesses have described the gruesome scenes at a Kansas theme park where a boy, 10, was decapitated when he was thrown out of a waterslide's raft and into the safety netting above. Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? During an October 2007 state legislature hearing, Kansas lawmakers pressed Mike Hutfles, a lobbyist with Schlitterbahn, on whether the company would be opposed to pursuing a requirement for safety inspections. She claimed there were no lifeguards on duty at the time to help and she had to be saved from the water by waterpark customers. I saw the sandbags fly out of the boat and I still went down it, Wyandotte County District judge Kathleen Lynch told Esquire, who added that she estimated she rode Verrckt more than ten times. Do you have any engineering or business background? The ride, while available for riders over the height of 54 inches tall and who are able to understand the two page safety warning park employees must read them before they can enter, is actually meant for "thrill seekers", according to Jeff Henry, the co-owner of Schlitterbahn and creator of the Verruckt water slide. (The same consultant would later advise Henry that the ride was unfinished and unsafe.) TheVerruckt- German for insane - is the highest waterslide in the world. According to People . Such a tragedy. It's a treat most of us have not only enjoyed, but looked forward to over the years. That meant having a ride at Schlitterbahn that no one had seen before, specifically at the only park outside of Texas that was still trying to make a splash. Rushing over to them, the lifeguards at the bottom of the slide saw Grovess right eye was swollen shut, as well as other abrasions and bruising along his body, and told them that the raft went way too fast. DeSantis coming to CA as new poll shows him leading Trump. Jess Stanford and Melanie Gocke were at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kansas, on the same day a ten-year-old boy was killed on the 17-storey ride last week. Verruckt was certified as the world's tallest waterslide by Guinness World Records. State inspectors reportedly last checked the waterpark in 2012, well before the Verruckt opened. Email us attips@the-sun.co.ukor call 0207 782 4368. One of the lifeguards would later come forward to a detective, revealing Miless work in covering up the incidentan effort that was corroborated by members of the medical staff. In a bid to impress the producers, Henry told them he was building the biggest, tallest, and fastest waterslide in the world. In 2013, lifeguard Nico Benavides, 20, was killed at the company's park on South Padre Island, Texas, when a mechanical door slammed on the guard's head. It said the allegation that Caleb's death was foreseeable is "beyond the pale of speculation.". Not much released at the news conference, but I will be intrigued to find out after the investigation, exactly what happened. In early tests, rafts carrying sandbags flew off the slide, prompting engineers to tear down half of the ride and reconfigure some angles at a cost of $1 million, Henry said. The third suit was brought by Frances Logan which alleged she had been severely injured onthe park's King Kong River ride when theinner tube she was ridingtipped over and her left foot hit a concrete wall. Verruckt's 2014 opening was repeatedly delayed, though the operators didn't explain why. In addressing the viral videos of the sandbags flying off the testing of the ride, Henry expressed confidence that the ride was good to go. It's easy! Samantha Soper's head was whipped side to side like that of a rag doll on a raft that had been repaired with duct tape, causing the twenty-three-year-old to suffer from severe neck pain. Asking for privacy to grieve, they said: "Since the day he was born, he brought abundant joy to our family and all those he came in contact with.". 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Caleb was in Raft B, joined by sisters Matraca Baetz and Hannah Barnes in the seats behind him. KANSAS CITY, Kansas (WABC) -- A witness to the tragic death of a 10-year-old boy on the world's tallest water slide in Kansas has revealed gruesome details of how the boy died. A day earlier, she told reporters that Caleb had been at the park with family members, adding 'We honestly don't know what's happened.'. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission. Police said Caleb died from "a fatal neck injury." Another witness claimed that the child was decapitated . Safety is absolutely paramount to them. The Verruckt water slide requires riders to be strapped in with seatbelts and is designed more like a roller coaster, with netting surrounding the slide to prevent rafts from catapulting into the air. Since the day he was born, he brought abundant joy to our family and all those who he came into contact with, the Schwabs said. Kansas City police spokesman Officer Cameron Morgan said no police report was available of the incident and deferred additional questions to the park. Four rides at the water park remained closed after regulators found that Schlitterbahn did not comply with new legislation implemented in response to Schwabs death. RELATED: Gruesome details revealed in boy's water slide death at Kansas park. In a January 25, 2019 court hearing, an attorney representing Henry & Sons Construction, Schlitterbahn's general contracting affiliate, argued that the evidence shown to the grand jurors was flimsy and inadmissable because it included clips from a scripted show highlighting the construction of the waterslide, the Kansas City Star reported. Such rides, according to the statute, commonly are known as Ferris wheels, carousels, parachute towers, bungee jumps and roller coasters. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. Crews start to dismantle the 17-story Verrckt waterslide on October 30, 2018. Because of how fast you go on that ride, it all kind of happened in a blink.. Were talking about a child who was decapitated. The other is James 4:14. A witness to the tragic death of a 10-year-old boy on the world's tallest water slide in Kansas has revealed gruesome details of how the boy died. Prosapio could not say whether the boy fell from the 17-story ride and she could not even say what time Sunday afternoon the incident occurred. Even with the slide finally down, a community that once looked to Schlitterbahn as a summer refuge remains shaken and searching for answers of what went wrong. Here's a look at water parks, their safety and statistics: About 1,300 water parks operated in North America a year ago, up about 30 percent from a decade ago, according to the trade group World Waterpark Association. The water slide was immediately closed after Caleb Schwab's accident and remains closed as investigators continuing to assess what happened. Take it as you want to because it's from Twitter but witnesses have reported that the harness system was malfunctioning prior to this accident. The 10-year-old. Roller coaster death tragedy. The thought of this is making me sick! In April, EPR Properties, a Kansas real estate investment trust that holds the mortgage on Schlitterbahn Kansas City, warned investors that the criminal indictments might hurt the companys chances of paying back the $174.3 million on its loan. Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab, father of Caleb Schwab, in his Statehouse office in Topeka, Kansas on October 4, 2018. "Schlitterbahn is a family water park, but this isn't a family ride. Tough schedule. Schlitterbahn said last week's indictment is "full of false information," and the company also rejected its allegations that Miles and the company withheld information from law enforcement officials. Miles's attorneys declined to be interviewed. Miles' attorneys said in their own statement that they welcome the opportunity to prove his innocence in court. The park will be closed todayand the ride will be closed pending the investigation, Prosapio said. He said, Its always on my mind: What if Jeffrey got on there?. Walking out of a Wyandotte County, Kansas, courtroom this past April, Henryregarded in the water-park industry as the Wizard of Wet, Lord of the Slides, and an aquatic Walt Disneywas surrounded by his legal counsel, confidants, and local media. August 7, 2016 in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys! By most accounts, Henrys Schlitterbahn Kansas City was an above-average park in its first few years, but it was underwhelming compared to what was promised. I thought we had designed the biggest, baddest thing ever built, a ride that could operate safely and never have a serious accident, ever, if things were complied with and if the thing was maintained and operated as designed, Henry said. Another witness to the tragedy revealed some of the gruesome details surrounding the boys death earlier in the week. Goldstein & Orr. Those numbers do not include other water park injuries or those who need lifeguard assistance without a hospital trip. Aside from the steady soundtrack of Bon Jovi, Taylor Swift, and Justin Bieber, Schlitterbahn was eerily quiet from my float on Boogie Bay. You cant blame anyone else except Schlitterbahn and the people who put this slide together. "They realised that he was dead, so I don't think they tried to revive him," Sanford said. 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