"These are not the actions of someone who believed the ride to be dangerous. Many lawmakers were at Schlitterbahn for Elected Official Day. I wonder if it ended up there by accident or was it pulled off the ride in the aftermath? Two workers are charged with lying to . Jeffrey Wayne Henry, Schlitterbahns co-owner and the man who came up with the idea for the Verrckt. with safety concerns now raised over the ride. It was announced in September 2005 by Schlitterbahn Waterparks. This content is imported from youTube. The death seemed like an isolated accident until whistleblowers from Schlitterbahn revealed that experts . Schlitterbahn is an important tourist attraction in our community, and we hope it remains open and a success, Taylor told Esquire. The Kansas City park remained closed Monday as the investigation into what caused the death on the waterslide. Republican Senators Form Wingnut Xylophone, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. Were talking about a child who was decapitated. The police are working with the park on the investigation. We literally worked around the clock.. Caleb and his father,. RELATED: Witness Describes 'Horrific Scene' at Water Park After Boy Died. I said, Its a speed blaster. Well, it didnt exist. A promotional video for a show about building the slide includes footage of two men riding a raft down a half-size test model and going slightly airborne as it crests the top of the first big hill. Galveston's Schlitterbahn does not have the slide Schwab was killed on, but. Whatever the investigators discover, the news will come too late for Caleb Schwab; a kid who just wanted to try out a big, cool water slide. 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. Thats negligent homicide, said Ken Martin, a nationally recognized amusement-ride inspector and safety analyst since 1993. Paul Oberhauser told CBS News that his safety belt came off while riding with a friend and his 9-year-old son about two weeks ago. The additions of Kansas Speedway, a minor-league baseball stadium, a popular furniture store, a Cabelas store, and an outlet mall showed the areas commitment. They included a single count of involuntary manslaughter over the death of Caleb Schwab in 2016. Are you a high school dropout? Caleb Schwab AP. Riders sit in a three-person raft and are secured with straps across the waist and shoulders, like a seat belt. How was the amusement-park giant, and the people behind it, permitted to allegedly act so negligently and irresponsibly on a project for which the stakes were so high? Giant Verrckt Water Slide at Schlitterbahn Kansas City. Esteban Castaneda, who was at the Kansas City waterpark, told ABC 7he heard loud booms coming from the ride before noticing a body wash down after a raft. The 168ft-high Verruckt, which means "insane" in German, was certified as the world's tallest water slide by Guinness World Records. She wondered to herself if the Velcro straps that held riders in place were safe enough on a waterslide deemed by the Guinness Book of World Records two years earlier to be the tallest in existence. Witness Esteban Castaneda told ABC 7 that he heard booms coming from the slide and then saw a body wash down the slide just after the raft. Considering his love of sports and that his go-to question, Can I go play?, is engraved on his grave, its comforting to see Schwabs resting place close to the slides and basketball hoops at Heritage Christian Academy. Also from Twitter, witnesses are reporting that the harness system wasn't functioning properly prior to the accident. When I heard a noise that didnt sound like it was supposed to come from that kind of ride, thats when I turned around, Sanford told. Were you aware of the previous injuries on Verrckt? It was shocking and tragic when Caleb Schwab, 10, was decapitated on August 17, 2016 on the Verruckt waterslide at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City. The park, which had been open since 2009, was the first effort outside of Texas for Schlitterbahn, the family-run water-park dynasty thats become the worlds preeminent aquatic amusement giant, with its original park winning Best Waterpark in the World by Amusement Today for two consecutive decades. It said the allegation that Caleb's death was foreseeable is "beyond the pale of speculation.". People on reddit were being as you'd expect ("Omg so unsafe I'd never ride"), but there were a few people who said they were there and that there was blood everywhere. A humid breeze presses down on the dead summer grass. Records show that Jeffrey Henry, co-owner of Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts, was booked into the jail in Cameron County, Texas. One witness described the scene as "the worstday in her life". WARNING: The details in . The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. Schlitterbahn Waterpark Kansas City was a water park that opened on July 15, 2009 in Kansas City, Kansas. 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. Other traumatised witnesses said they saw Caleb's family crying as emergency services treated the other two women who were on the raft. Do you have any engineering or business background? To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. A 12-year-old boy died Sunday afternoon on the tallest water slide in the world, the Verrckt, at the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, Kan. A park spokeswoman confirmed the death at a news conference Sunday afternoon. Donald Slaughters raft collided with a concrete wall, resulting in herniated spinal disks and radiating numbness and tingling in the forty-two-year-olds right arm. One by one, people visiting their spouses or children at the Overland Park cemetery come by the back corner of the burial ground to chat with me about anything, mainly the oppressive heat, their loved ones, and Caleb. But, it's Twitter, so it's not that reliable. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/. He was found dead at the bottom of the slide, and the two women who were with him were treated for minor injuries. Caleb Schwab was killed going down the 168-foot-tall "Verruckt" ride at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kansas last August. Esteban Castaneda, who was at the waterpark at the time of the incident said there were several loud bangs that came from the ride before a body washed down the slide after a raft. 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. A Wyandotte County judge has thrown out all five remaining criminal indictments stemming from the death three years ago of 10-year-old Caleb Schwab on the Verruckt water slide at the. Drownings also occur. OMG!! (The state's assistant attorney general refuted Schlitterbahn's suggestion that the grand jury was "too stupid to discern a television show for evidence. The prosecution and the defense have both rested their case in the Schlitterbahn trial regarding the death of 10-year-old Caleb Schwab in August 2016. We pay for your stories! But officials scrapped the age restriction, deeming the height requirement sufficient. As people continue to try to figure out how a ten-year-old boy lost his life going down the worlds tallest waterslide, Schlitterbahns leadership, as well as the employees responsible for the rides upkeep, have taken the brunt of the blame. Scott Schwab is a Republican from Olathe. ] He followed up that same day: I have to micro manage this. My thoughts are with the boy's family and anyone who witnessed this. 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. With June 15, 2013, set as the deadline for the entire project, Henry and Schooley had put themselves in a tight spot. The industry veteran, who requested that Esquire withhold their name, laid out how the size of the parks site, the timeline on their land and development goals, and the sweltering Kansas heat made the project one that was constantly reeling. Supreme Court to Play Jenga with Federal Budget, Merrick Garland Is Going to Have a Long Day, Nebraska Lawmaker Vows to Stop Anti-Trans Bill, Supreme Court Narrowly Averts 'Nullification'. Two media sneak preview days in 2014 were canceled because of problems with a conveyor system that hauls 100-pound rafts to the top of the slide. Check out Bay Area safety tracker, Tracking the drought: Map shows conditions across SF Bay Area, Bay Area Life; Sundays at 6:30 p.m. on ABC7, Water park, ex-employee charged in 10-year-old's 2016 death on ride, Gruesome details revealed in boy's water slide death at Kansas park, Witness Describes 'Horrific Scene' at Water Park After Boy Died. Email us attips@the-sun.co.ukor call 0207 782 4368. 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. The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, had already put together an effort to convince residents to spend their recreational dollars in Kansas instead of Missouri. What made me say that was that the sandbags that were being tested kept flying off the rafts. (The anecdote was corroborated in the reporting from the July story in Texas Monthly. A promotional video for a show about building the slide includes footage of two men riding a raft down a half-size test model and going slightly airborne as it crests the top of the first big hill. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. I learned everything I know about water by looking at it, watching it, Henry told author Tim OBrien in Legends: Pioneers of the Amusement Park Industry. The blueprints for the once-projected $750 million development made the sprawling attraction look like something never before seen outside Disney, let alone at a water park. When they went down, the Travel Channel folks got stuck on the second hump, so they had to do a rerun. The former employee added: After seeing that, I told my friends and family it was only a matter of time until someone died on Verrckt. He grabbed the auxiliary straps on the side to get him ready for the second hump. Henry wanted to change that. ", Joe Montana's 'The Drive' jersey sells for record $1.212 million, Jupiter and Venus appear to 'kiss' in the sky, FL Gov. In October, two other maintenance workers, David Hughes and John Zalsman, were found not guilty of lying to obstruct the investigation into Schwabs death. ucla prime cohort; h e b shortbread cookies. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time.. It's kind of like a tube.". Schlitterbahn water park death: Caleb Schwab decapitated on world's tallest water slide in Kansas City | The Sun News 'BEHEADED' ON 65mph WATERSLIDE Horrified witnesses claim senator's. Citing the pending litigation, Schlitterbahn was unable to give responses to dozens of questions provided by Esquire regarding the company, Henry, the Kansas City water park, Verrckt, its safety procedures, and other topics. I said, Mmmm, I just announced this major new ride. Steven Tyson, his assistant at the time, added: He wasnt the tallest and he wasnt the fastest, so he decided to make that happen., Schooley would recall to Gizmodo in July 2014 their reasoning for building Verrckt: Basically, we were crazy enough to try anything.. But the biggest domino to fall could be in Kansas City. Once the forty-six-year-old Groves gave his incident report, Miles allegedly destroyed the witness statements and forced the lifeguards to write coached statements which omitted any detail of how the injury had occurred, telling the medical staff to alter their own reports. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Scott Schwabwho was elected Kansass Secretary of Statedeclined to be interviewed. "That was when my boyfriend said, 'I think there is someone else. "Not only had Tyler ridden the slide numerous times, but, as the State is aware, he had scheduled his wife, to ride it on the day of the accident," the attorneys, Tom and Tricia Bath, said in their statement. You mention his name and the kids say, I know who Caleb is, Kurt Dunn, coach of the Mudcats, told Esquire, adding that the organization retired Calebs No. In March 2014, Linda Stomboly. 'There are no federal standards and so it really is up to the park operators, the manufacturers of the rides and the states to make sure this is a safe environment," said Deborah Hersman, president and CEO of the National Safety Council.'. The Verrckt slide at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark is the tallest in the world. I stared at the white waterslide once described by Henry as an erotic piece of artits curves and drops were as grand and ambitious as advertised. Today, August 7, is the fifth anniversary of his horrific death in August 2016. She turned around to see what was happening. When he ran forward to help, he saw a lifeguard desperately trying to hold back a gathering crowd. Two horrified witnesses have spoken out about the gruesome scene when a boy was decapitated by the world's largest waterslide. And he just kept saying, No, trust me, you dont want to go any further, she recalled. That should tell you something about how I felt about it.. Aside from the steady soundtrack of Bon Jovi, Taylor Swift, and Justin Bieber, Schlitterbahn was eerily quiet from my float on Boogie Bay. After a boy died while riding a nearly 170-foot-tall waterslide in Kansas in 2016, state attorneys brought criminal charges against operators and associates of the water park, accusing them of. She suffered slipped spinal disks, an injury thats left her with chronic back pain. The park had a lot of promise, but also a lot of issues, said an industry veteran who has developed water-park rides throughout the world, including with Henry and Schooley at Schlitterbahn Kansas City. 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I've seen retweets of her post with comments about his head becoming caught up in the netting. It was not immediately clear why as 12-year-old was on the slide. The comments below have been moderated in advance. The Schlitterbahn waterpark, in Kansas city - where Caleb Schwab tragically died on theVerruckt ride Sunday, has been sued three times for negligence since 2014. Tyler Miles, the operations manager of the park, had received seventeen separate staff reports during the 2015 and 2016 summer seasons about how Raft B required maintenance, including five from that week alone. An image, obtained by Heavy, shows netting being removed from a portion of the ride following the tragic incident on Sunday. 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. The opening of the Verrckt was delayed several times as the development team made adjustments. How safe is your neighborhood? 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