Unbuckled 6-year-old fell to her death on an amusement park ride. Who's responsible?

Irwin

Irwin

Well-known Member
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
A 6-year-old fell to her death on an amusement park ride. Operators didn’t see she wasn’t belted, report says.​
Minutes before a Colorado amusement park ride was set to drop passengers 110 feet into the ground, a red light on the attraction’s computer system notified operators of a problem, a state investigation found. One of its six passengers, the computer alerted, was not properly buckled up.​
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Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park operators overrode that system and launched the ride, the report states.​
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About two minutes later, when the passenger cart came back up, 6-year-old Wongel Estifanos — passenger No. 3 — was not in her seat.​
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Wongel had fallen to the bottom of the ride. Authorities recovered her body from the shaft that evening and shut down the ride indefinitely, pending the results of an investigation into the girl’s death.​

Obviously, the operator bears some of the responsibility for not checking to see who wasn't properly buckled up and "overriding" the system, but don't the parents of the girl bear some of the responsibility, also, for not checking on their child? The ride operator was probably some kid earning minimum wage. I sure as hell wouldn't put my child's life in their hands (if I had a child). I wouldn't even put my dog's life in their hands. Hell, I don't even trust my car to workers at places like JiffyLube.
 

The mother above all and the employee. Recently a woman and her 8 year old son died as a result of the flying out of the car while it was speeding and lost control. Four other children survived and all four were buckled up.
 
Irwin said:
A 6-year-old fell to her death on an amusement park ride. Operators didn’t see she wasn’t belted, report says.​
Minutes before a Colorado amusement park ride was set to drop passengers 110 feet into the ground, a red light on the attraction’s computer system notified operators of a problem, a state investigation found. One of its six passengers, the computer alerted, was not properly buckled up.​
​
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park operators overrode that system and launched the ride, the report states.​
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There is this — the amusement park ride itself alerted the operators that there was a problem, and they ignored it.
 
They are all to blame. I would not get on a ride like that much less put my child on it. When my girls were young and we went to the local festivals one of us always rode with them. I would ride with one and my husband with the other one. We would not even ride the roller coasters if they looked too rough. And you always checked the height, etc for the ride.
 
Irwin said:
...a red light on the attraction’s computer system notified operators of a problem, a state investigation found. One of its six passengers, the computer alerted, was not properly buckled up.​
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I would say that some kind of 'willful' criminal charge against the operators would be in order.

The parent or guardian? They better have a really good excuse...
 
Irwin said:
No, but there are a lot of things in life that we like but don't necessarily "need." People like to be scared when it's in a controlled environment, such as amusement park rides or horror movies.
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Thank you. I didn't know that because I was born yesterday.
 
I'm reminded of the case here in Denver where a family of four were crossing the street downtown. They had the walk signal so they just start crossing the street without checking both ways for traffic. A car came barreling through the intersection and hit all of them from what I remember, killing at least one of the children and causing serious injuries to the rest of the family members.

Personally, I don't trust anyone. I never go blindly through an intersection, either driving or walking. I'd never go skydiving because I'd have to trust someone to pack the parachute correctly.
 
Very sad, may she rest peacefully. The park attendants bear most of the blame. This is one of many amusement park accidents which ended in the death of a child. If I was a mom, I'd take every precaution in my power to be sure my child was safe in any ride. I'd be sure the ride was age appropriate too, a six year old is very young and fragile.

https://www.seniorforums.com/thread...ansas-so-many-amusement-park-tragedies.23680/
 
Irwin said:
A 6-year-old fell to her death on an amusement park ride. Operators didn’t see she wasn’t belted, report says.​
Minutes before a Colorado amusement park ride was set to drop passengers 110 feet into the ground, a red light on the attraction’s computer system notified operators of a problem, a state investigation found. One of its six passengers, the computer alerted, was not properly buckled up.​
​
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park operators overrode that system and launched the ride, the report states.​
​
About two minutes later, when the passenger cart came back up, 6-year-old Wongel Estifanos — passenger No. 3 — was not in her seat.​
​
Wongel had fallen to the bottom of the ride. Authorities recovered her body from the shaft that evening and shut down the ride indefinitely, pending the results of an investigation into the girl’s death.​

Obviously, the operator bears some of the responsibility for not checking to see who wasn't properly buckled up and "overriding" the system, but don't the parents of the girl bear some of the responsibility, also, for not checking on their child? The ride operator was probably some kid earning minimum wage. I sure as hell wouldn't put my child's life in their hands (if I had a child). I wouldn't even put my dog's life in their hands. Hell, I don't even trust my car to workers at places like JiffyLube.

Who's responsible?​

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What is "a 6-year-old" doing on a ride that "drops passengers 110 feet into the ground" in the first place?

"Minutes before"? Why didn't the light go red as soon as the thing was switched on?

If the light didn't go on immediately and the parent - whom I assume was sitting next to the child - did not make sure the belt was secure then the employees cannot be "responsible" unless they didn't observe the appointed safety checks prior to use. So, "responsible" would be the parent, maintenance crew, owner.
 
I've worked with carnies
I've seen the lack of maintenance
No way in hell would I let any child go near a carnival ride
I saw a whip come apart
and fling caged seats over 50 feet

Negligence/manslaughter on the carnival
Can't imagine the punishment for the parent(s)
 
terry123 said:
They are all to blame. I would not get on a ride like that much less put my child on it. When my girls were young and we went to the local festivals one of us always rode with them. I would ride with one and my husband with the other one. We would not even ride the roller coasters if they looked too rough. And you always checked the height, etc for the ride.
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True. An adult that would allow a child to be dropped from any height must be a moron or a psychopath. As a ten-year-old, my parents took me with them to see the film "Psycho". I'm not going to tell you the anguish I still feel to this very day.
 
Verisure said:
What is "a 6-year-old" doing on a ride that "drops passengers 110 feet into the ground" in the first place?
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I thought all amusement parks had height restrictions on their 'adult' rides so yeah, what the hell was a 6 year old kid doing on a ride that went as high as an 8 story building? The amusement operator may be culpable but the parents should also be charged with child abuse IMO.
 

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