Son of Kansas lawmaker dies on Verrückt slide at Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kan. Read

[pstokely]

Source: Kansas City Star

It was elected officials day Sunday at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kan., and the place teemed with lawmakers and their families, who received free admission and lunch and a day of fun.

But by midafternoon, the joy came to a horrible end when the 10-year-old son of a Kansas state representative from Olathe died on the Verrückt, at 17 stories the tallest water slide in the world.

Caleb Thomas Schwab, a freckled baseball and soccer enthusiast, was the son of Rep. Scott Schwab and his wife, Michele. Hours after the fun and laughter, the Schwabs were being comforted at their home with hugs and kisses from friends and colleagues. One of them was state Sen. Greg Smith, who lost his own daughter, Kelsey, to a murderer in 2007.

Expressions of grief and condolences over Caleb’s death poured in. The Schwabs issued a statement thanking everyone for their compassion.


Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article94254507.html

[bravenak]

1. Very sad thing

[tblue37]

2. I feel so sorry for his parents. It's hard even to think of losing a child

like that. It just seems so random.

Poor little guy.

[Granny M]

3. Terrible loss. nt

[wheniwasincongress]

4. Witnesses say he was decapitated

how could that happen?!

[cbdo2007]

15. there were tests before it opened with dummies, where they would fly up out of the raft

I'm guessing the scenario was similar to that.

I remember seeing videos of that before it opened here on the local news but not sure if they are still available on the interwebs out there.

[Blue_Tires]

20. what's on that slide that would decapitate someone?

[cbdo2007]

23. I haven't seen it up close...just have driven by, but based on videos on the interwebs

it looks like there is netting with some supports holding the netting up over the entire thing? So if someone flew up and out of it like on the video with the dummies, I could see them potentially getting "decapitated" (or at least some major damage) by flying up into the net and supports.

[Blue_Tires]

24. holy damn...

the news this morning said it was "severe neck injury", and that the kid had somehow gotten off the raft... I guess either the restraints failed or he wasn't properly restrained...

[citood]

26. Latest news reports say two women in the raft had minor facial injuries

That indicates the entire raft went airborne, and they all hit the net support.

[alphafemale]

5. He must have sat up somehow.

Amusement park accidents are almost always the result of deliberately disobeying safety instructions.

[Boomer]

7. There are limits

Systems should never rely on rider obedience to keep them from being decapitated. There will always, always be someone who doesn't follow the rules.

[spinbaby]

8. The park didn't follow their own rules

There was a minimum age of 14 on that slide.

[LisaL]

9. Age requirement was removed some time ago.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. Was that removed by Kansas Republican de-regulation?

[bighart]

18. Can you clarify your question?

Do you think the state legislature forced the park to change the age requirement for this ride?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

21. I don't know, which is why I'm asking the question.

But to address the premise of your question, it is false to assume that deregulation in-and-of-itself forces the park. No.

If (and I do not know if they did, hence the reason I am asking the question), if the state removed a requirement of a minimum age for aquatic slides if one existed (and I do not know if one did), then the park would not be forced to remove the minimum age. They would be allowed to remove it, not required to remove it. But if other parks lowered or removed (freely under deregulation) an age requirement, then the park would feel competitive pressure to lower or remove their own age requirement.

[citood]

28. This discussion is moot

An age limit on a theme park ride is about useless, since most 14 year olds don't carry id. So they changed it to height, like just about every other theme park ride ever. (and weight)

Also, the boy's age had zero, zilch, nada, to do with his death.

Now there are some much larger regulatory issues to look at, dealing with the permitting of the ride in the first place. When this thing first went up, they had a lot of problems with test runs...to the amusement of local news crews which filmed test rafts flying off the ride. So the owner continued his tweeks and testing at night, out of the media spotlight. That sets off alarm bells....but the boy's age - meaningless.

[Judi Lynn]

19. No doubt. Regulations interfere with their freedum. n/t

[alphafemale]

12. you can not fail safe against stupid.

And even if you could I would not want to live in that bubble wrapped, tasteless world.

[exboyfil]

10. I am not so sure about that

in this case. The slide actually had to be rebuilt for safety concerns at a cost of $1M (the sandbags and dummies and the raft were going airborne). There is a fairly narrow band of weight where the three riders must be in. Finally they use Velcro straps to hold the riders in even though this ride is as dangerous as a roller coaster. Sounds like there was a second injury as well.

[Ace Rothstein]

11. There have been reports that the restraints on the ride were malfunctioning.

With all the chemicals in the water, the restraints need to be inspected and replaced more frequently.

[Kablooie]

30. A previous rider said her velcro restraint came loose by the end of the ride.

[citood]

31. Two other people in the raft were slightly injured in the face

IOW, the entire raft flew up.

[alphafemale]

34. Ride needs to shut down until redesigned.

This was not rider negligence at all it seems.

[Skittles]

6. very tragic

[BigDemVoter]

13. How horrible.

[NeoGreen]

14. "Our park in Kansas City doesn't have a height restriction so we decided to put it right here"

From a 2014 report:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/26/travel/worlds-tallest-water-slide/

"He decided to build it himself," Schooley said.

"We have long experience in building water park rides and developing new technology. Our park in Kansas City doesn't have a height restriction so we decided to put it right here."

Emphasis added.

World's tallest water slide finally open
By Astead Herndon, special to CNN
Updated 10:02 AM ET, Fri July 11, 2014

When no one wanted to build the world's tallest and fastest water slide, Jeff Henry built it himself.

So when Verrückt was completed, and it was time to test the 168-foot coaster in his Kansas City, Kansas, water park, the choice of test riders was rather easy.

The guinea pigs: Henry, owner of Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts; Henry's assistant; and head designer John Schooley.

"It was terrifying," Schooley said. "It was great fun, but it was actually terrifying."
The slide finally opened to the public on Thursday, July 10, after several weeks of delays. Technical glitches forced the original May 23 opening date to be pushed back three times, a park spokesperson said.

[citood]

32. The height is just a few feet higher than other slides

The real differentiating factor is the second hill. No other mega waterslide has this, and it is where rafts flew off in testing...and where this boy died.

[Sunlei]

17. What a horrible tragedy, much sympathy to his family & friends.

That was a very new slide? A slide using net on top and the net supports always looked like an instant death if anyone managed to make contact.

[NutmegYankee]

22. Here's a video (GoPro) of the slide.

Count me out. I'd have an acrophobia meltdown before I ever got into that raft.

The rafts now have seat with velcro straps, so it's less dangerous that this video.

[brooklynite]

25. I hope Kansas didn't burden the water park with needless safety regulations...

...as opposed to the Nanny State water park across the State Line in Missouri.

[Vinca]

27. This is what happens when regulations are nonexistent or lax. People die.

[gwheezie]

29. Reports said his body was sliding

Down the chute behind the raft so I imagine the restraint failed. There was another report from another rider earlier that her restraint came undone at the end of the ride.
I'm just speculating but I wonder since the 2other riders on the raft were also injured if the raft went airborne and hit the netting and the seatbelt on the boy failed launching him out of the raft.
This is horrible. My grandson is 12 and s big kid, 5'4" and he loves rides but there are a few we don't let him ride. I can't watch him on some of them, he's always the kid with his hands up in the air.

[meadowlark5]

33. I also read the combined weight for each raft should be 400lbs

Probably need enough weight to keep the raft weighted down and on the water slide. How can people loading the ride be sure they are getting the correct weight? And another rider talking about feeling like she was leaving her seat because the restraints were not tight enough. Sounds like a badly designed ride.

Very sad for that family. Out for a day of fun and your whole world changes in an instant

[Ruby the Liberal]

35. Riders are weighed before climbing the stairs

and then again at the top. They are matched into groups by weight (so no raft with a group of kids -- they split them up).