Jump to content

Wisc. Dells: 12 Y.O. Girl Seriously Injured


Recommended Posts

And imagine being that ride operator for the rest of your life....criminal charges or not, you'd know you did (or didn't do) something that at best caused another incredible pain and suffering. Even if there are no criminal charges, a lawsuit if almost a given...and perhaps not just against the park.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 95
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

As a Parkland girl was hoisted up a Wisconsin theme park's free-fall tower, the net designed to catch her lay useless on the ground, authorities said.

A ride attendant unclipped the harness, and 12-year-old Teagan Marti plunged 100 feet, her back facing the earth.

Police in the village of Lake Delton, near Madison, said they're looking at "operator error by the ride attendant" in their investigation of the incident, which happened Friday and left Marti comatose for four days.

She came out of the coma Tuesday but was unable to move and could not speak because she was intubated, said attorney Stuart Grossman....

Also includes a picture of Teagan Marti...

EDIT: BROKEN LINK, correct link now appears in post 39. Thanks, DBfan!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^Broken Link

Its terrible that somebody would do this, but you have to feel sorry for the guy who dropped her. Imagine seeing her smile as she falls and you realize the safety isn't up yet. Then now knowing you might have paralyzed an innocent girl.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

She is still in critical condition.

...According to Lake Delton police and the owner of Extreme World, the ride operators made a mistake and released the girl without first raising the catch net 40 feet above ground.

Reports by Lake Delton police and the Wisconsin Department of Commerce said that protocol was not followed and operator error was the cause of the accident. The documents signed by Extreme World's owner acknowledge that the fall is the fault of a park employee.

The Marti family attorney has identified the operator who was handling the ride as a 33-year-old Wisconsin Dells man. WISC-TV is choosing not to identify the man as he has not been charged with any wrongdoing....

http://www.channel3000.com/news/24533502/detail.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ride Op Named, Devastated:

http://abcnews.go.co...ory?id=11342216

Officer Investigates Park Doing "Routine" Maintenance at nearly 2 a.m. in the morning before an inspection:

...Extreme World maintenance workers were at the park around 1:53 a.m. Thursday working on Terminal Velocity, according to a Lake Delton informational police report. Officer Lucas Killick said he noticed the ride's lights were on, and "based on the unusual circumstances" he decided to investigate.

Killick spoke with track Manager William Whitt, who said workers were repairing the ride's control arms. The arms, Whitt said, are located on the ride's four outside support columns and are used to evenly guide the drop net support wires when the net is raised, the report said.

Anderson said the work was routine maintenance that was done because he knew inspectors were coming later on Thursday.

"I said, 'We are going to be inspected, let's start from point zero,'" he said. "We didn't have to do it."

Whitt told Killick that the control arms hadn't been replaced in the ride's eight year history and were rusted "beyond the ability to turn them."...

[Anderson is the park owner]

http://www.wiscnews....1cc4c002e0.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Charged with a felony, he's back at work in the same park:

The park ride worker charged with a felony for dropping a 12-year-old Florida girl from an amusement park ride before a safety net was secured is back to work at the same Wisconsin park where the accident occurred less than a month ago.

Charles Carnell, the 33-year-old ride operator who was at the helm of the Terminal Velocity freefall ride the day Teagan Marti plummeted to the ground, is back on the job at Extreme World in Wisconsin Dells, though not at the free-fall ride, bungee jump or ejector seat rides, as mandated by a judge....

http://www.cbsnews.c...in6786717.shtml

My head hurts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For me, at least, the most important news was buried deep within this article, and I have quoted it for you:

...Teagan remains in critical condition at American Family Children's Hospital in Madison.

Her mother, Julie Marti, said Friday that doctors had not yet removed her daughter's breathing tube. She continues to communicate through blinking her eyes and can make small gestures, such as squeezing a hand.

"Any little sign, I take as a miracle," Julie Marti said.

Speaking at a hospital news conference, she said watching Teagan fall was "the worst day of my life. I can't believe she's alive."...

...Teagan's doctors said her injuries include swelling of the brain, several severe spinal fractures, multiple pelvis fractures and lacerations to her liver, spleen, intestines and duodenum.

http://www.wiscnews....1cc4c03286.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I am just glad that she is improving in health.

At first I felt sorry for the ride opperator, but now after reading the articles I am questioning my first thought. How could you go back to work and the scene of the accident so soon after such a horrible accident? Just a question, because I think I would need a few days/weeks to get mentally better.

Makes more sense now as to why the SCAD tower never really took off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

State: Operator Error, Not Mechanical Problem with Ride, Caused Accident:

...Instead of something mechanical, officials said in the report that their investigation points to mistakes by the operator at the top of the ride as the likely cause of the accident.

The report said that all witness statements and information from the law enforcement said that Marti was released from the ride's cage before it had reached its top position and before the safety net was in its proper position.Officials said that as the cage with Marti started to ascend, the operator on the ground "stopped it to put more air in the tubes that form the outside of the net." They said as the tubes were being filled, the operator at the top of the ride opened the bottom of the cage and prepared the girl for the dive. The operator then released Marti, not realizing that the cage hadn't reached the top of the ride or that the net wasn't in place.

Officials said that based on their examination, they don't believe hand signals were used between the two operators. They said that ride protocol states "hand signals are to be used between the operator at the bottom of the ride and the operator at the top of the ride to check and to verify that the cage is at the top before a dive is executed."...

http://www.channel3000.com/news/24856602/detail.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...