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Black Sunday


Scooby_Doo
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Only 3 people died today. A long time ago I asked Shaggy about this day. He replied with this...

Officially no one has ever died at King's Island. How so? Well, no one is pronounced dead at PKI... that happens at the hospital. ;-)

There has only been one ride-related fatality in the park's history. On June 9th 1991 Candy Taylor, fell from the Flight Commader ride formerly located on Coney Mall. The ride, an Intamin Pilot ride allowed guests to flip or rotate their individual ****pits.

But let me back up, because that day has become known as KI's darkest day. At approximately 8:30 in the evening, Timothy Benning (22)entered the park's pond located next to the Octoberfest Beir Garden to, apparently, retrieve a lost item. Upon entering the restricted area he was shocked due to an electrical current (later determined to be coming from a defective water circulation pump.) When he screamed and fell unconscious in the shallow water, his friend William Haithcoat (20) jumped in to pull him out. Immediately Haithcoat was shocked. Upon hearing the screams a park security officer, Darrel Robertson (20) jumped in attempting to help and was also shocked. Ironically the rescuers... Haithcoat and Robertson died, but Benning survived. The Octoberfest area of the park was emptied immediately, and closed off. Helicopters landed in the park to life-flight the victims to the hospital. They were undergoing CPR when they left.

Just after this at the back of the park, Ms. Taylor, who was drunk, boarded Flight Commander at approximately 9:45pm. She rode by herself which later was determined to be the cause of her death. As the ride proceeded, she passed out (her Blood Alchohol level was 3.0. ) while flipping the ride upside down. Since her body was limp, she slid to the side towards the empty seat next to her and out of the over-the-shoulder restraint and lap bar. She fell 60 feet to the concrete below in front of eye-witnesses who were horrified. A design flaw in the ride was blamed. The ride was closed the rest of the 1991 season, but re-opened in 1992.

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It is very sad that 3 people lost their lives in one day at PKI. And adding salt to the wound is the fact that PKI has to claim partial responsibilty for what happened. The 3 that fell in the lake started as a joke and ended up being a fluke incident that I cannot imagine anybody could predict. As for the lady that "had too much fun", I suppose that this incident could have been prevented, if the operator(s) somehow could have known how intoxicated she was.

A very sad day indeed, and Flight Commander was eventually taken out as a result some years later.

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I remember being told about it I wonder if the park closed down after the tragic events?

Yes, while the pond incident was happening that area was evacuated. In a attempt to rise morals Kings Island stayed open, but after the FC, the entire park was evacuated.

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