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Person Dies at Schlitterbahn Kansas City


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   I read a story that said the kid's brother saw him die. So sad. He supposedly told somebody that worked at the park " thanks to your attraction, I just saw my brother die" or something like that. Found the link:

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/kansas-waterslide-death-decapitation-schlitterbahn-park-verruckt-caleb-schwab-a7184601.html

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Legal Implications And Consequences:

http://www.kansascity.com/news/article96777077.html

Article is HIGHLY recommended.

 

Great article and the one take away was this is why a park like Action Park existed in New Jersey and why Verruckt was built at the Kansas Schlitterbahn.

 

I am typically one who advocates for less government involvement but the fact Kansas only audits to confirm ride inspections and that they leave actual inspections up to the parks is concerning.  Seems like a conflict of interest when the ride inspector is hired and paid by the park.  Good for businesses but provides little protection for the consumer and especially tax payers of the state. 

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Article concerning industry safety standards written after recent accidents. There are 6 states that do not require any inspections but left up to the insurance companies to set the criteria according to the article.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/thrill-ride-accidents-spark-demands-regulation-145059427.html

"In 2010, there were an estimated 5,419,000 crashes (30,296 fatal crashes), killing 32,999 and injuring 2,239,000.[2]"

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year

As compared to 4,400 injuries of probably nearly 60 million visitors to amusement parks nationwide.

Source: "Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, analyzed the data from between 1990 and 2010 and estimated that an average of more than 4,400 children per year are injured on rides at amusement parks and water parks."

From the article you posted. My point being accidents will happen no matter how much regulation there is, furthermore what percentage is rider error.

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But each ride has such a huge amount of variables involved in each accident, to pin down the exact cause of each of the numbered accidents would be an astronomical feat, unless all the accidents happened in the same park, the same ride, the same operator, and Egad- the same rider.

Accidents do happen, but it happens more often when there is less oversight and regulation.

I don't like regulation in my life, but when a park inspects it's own rides, there's a lot more "Eh, it'll do." Than I'd like.

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  • 2 months later...
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Criminal charges have been filed against Schlitterbahn & their Director of Park Operations.

The former operations director for Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas, and the water park itself have been charged with manslaughter in the 2016 death of a 10-year-old boy on a water slide.... In addition.... both were indicted on multiple counts of aggravated battery and aggravated endangering a child (and)... interference with law enforcement.

http://6abc.com/news/water-park-ex-employee-charged-in-10-year-olds-2016-death-on-ride/3251969/

The fact that criminal charges are being brought is stunning. Many amusement park accidents only result in civil settlements & fines from the governmental agency overseeing amusement parks in their state. There must be some seriously darning evidence to lead to these charges being filed.

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Wow. Just wow. I read that whole thing and the lengths that guy went is just mind boggling. I mean, I get the thought process behind designing their own ride. It's stupid, but I get how it happened. But repeatedly ignoring the flaws and problems, then intentionally suppressing injury data is just stupid. He deserves to have the book thrown at him. 

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3 hours ago, coasterfanatic2012 said:

Wow... it might be best just to shut the park down at this point. So sad.

 

2 hours ago, silver2005 said:

There's also a whole chain of these parks (4 more in fact).

This might have quite the ripple effect. 

https://www.schlitterbahn.com/

Yeah, this company is done. This opens lawsuits from anyone who has as much as stubbed their toe at any of the parks, so financially they won't be able to continue. Also, since the company is named in a criminal complaint, I don't know if they can even continue if there is a conviction. This will either lead to the company folding or sold off. If someone buys them, or they somehow restructure as a new company, any rides they built themselves would probably have to be removed. I'd say it'll come down to a park by park basis as to what happens. 

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Honest question: exactly how do criminal charges against a business entity work? I assume you would have the standard legal process, the same as for an individual defendant. But then what happens if the company pleads or is found guilty? How does sentencing work? You can't exactly throw a company in prison like you can with a person. Do they just get massive fines instead? Can the judge force the owners to shut the company down or sell it to an outsider?

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28 minutes ago, jcgoble3 said:

Honest question: exactly how do criminal charges against a business entity work? I assume you would have the standard legal process, the same as for an individual defendant. But then what happens if the company pleads or is found guilty? How does sentencing work? You can't exactly throw a company in prison like you can with a person. Do they just get massive fines instead? Can the judge force the owners to shut the company down or sell it to an outsider?

A quick google search says fines and probation, with the court overseeing the business. 

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