Caleb Thomas Schwab 10, son of Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab died on water slide

[marycontrary]

http://www.wowt.com/content/news/12-...389435982.html

Verruckt is billed as the worlds tallest water slide with speeds reaching 70mph. The article seems to be confused with the child's age and his family confirmed he was 10yrs old. Riders today reported problems with the restraint system. A reporter from Kansas City tweeted that the boy became air born and his head struck a support pole and he was decapitated.

The ride opening has been delayed and the slide re-designed several times due to rafts flying off the ride during testing of the ride.

[daisylane]

UH! Poor kid!!! WTF!

[Angiebla]

Something a little similiar to me happened at a water park. I was going down a huge hill on this plastic board thing, and went flying in the air, and when I landed back down on the board, I hurt my tail bone pretty bad. I tried to get up at the end and get the board, but I felt dizzy and fainted. I wasn't seriously hurt, but I had to stay in the infirmary for the rest of the day.

I don't see how this kid could have gotten decapitated.

[teknansen]

Reports on Twitter fromg witnesses says he came up of the board and his head got caught in the safety netting and it was a fairly gruesome scene.

[Kelly-Jane]

Wow jesus christ !

[daisylane]

Reports on Twitter fromg witnesses says he came up of the board and his head got caught in the safety netting and it was a fairly gruesome scene.

Fuck me man.

I thought there'd be shit that stops this from happening, you know, standards? How many crash dummies have to safely get through a slide before humans use it? Do they even test them that way?

Being an 'important' persons kid though, this may induce change in safety procedures/testing... brain useage...

[marycontrary]

I read that they chose the Kansas side of Kansas City because the rides are less regulated in Kansas. The father has a voting record of voting against regulations...IE less government. It was Elected Official day at the water park.

There's some video of the aftermath which shows the supports for the netting looking bent and a good amount of bloody water at the bottom of the 2nd hump. The netting is there to keep riders from flying off the ride, yet I'm trying to imagine my face hitting that net at 60mph let alone hitting the frame for the net. Poor kid.

Velcro as a harness doesn't sound like the best plan.

[Angiebla]

Reports on Twitter fromg witnesses says he came up of the board and his head got caught in the safety netting and it was a fairly gruesome scene.

Omg that is fucking terrible. I didn't know there was a safety net

That poor kid, and poor family. They are traumatized, I'm sure.

ETA: I saw the picture that Mary talked about, and it pretty upsetting, I would not recommend googling it.

[Angiebla]

Sorry for the double...from what I've read about this ride, it requires a minimum of 2 passangers riding at a time.

There were 2 woman on the raft with him, one had a broken jaw, and the other had an eye injury she had to get stitches for.

[irishkat]

[Deviant Toaster]

How awful for everyone involved. I can not imagine that anyone who witnessed the accident or the aftermath is going to walk away intact. His poor family.

[daisylane]

Sorry for the double...from what I've read about this ride, it requires a minimum of 2 passangers riding at a time.

There were 2 woman on the raft with him, one had a broken jaw, and the other had an eye injury she had to get stitches for.

I read it was supposed to have minimum 400lb weight and be minimum 14 years/equiv height.. he didn't pass those measures and two women and a kid probably doesn't equal 400lbs to keep it weighted down. Fucking stupid fucks. Wonder if the dad will now pass fucking regulations the fool. Sad way to learn you're being a knob.

[curiouscat]

Poor kid! 😢
I would never go on a ride like that!

[songbirdsong]

This is basically the worst thing ever.

[Angiebla]

I read it was supposed to have minimum 400lb weight and be minimum 14 years/equiv height.. he didn't pass those measures and two women and a kid probably doesn't equal 400lbs to keep it weighted down. Fucking stupid fucks. Wonder if the dad will now pass fucking regulations the fool. Sad way to learn you're being a knob.

I think there was an age limit in place, but not at the time of this accident.

I'm more disappointed with the slide creator/owner. They built that net because in the practice runs for the ride, the raft flew off the side of the slide. Their solution was to add the netting. It's common sense that if something is going super fast (saw a YouTube vid where the ride operator said the thing goes 80 mph) and the raft "gets air" the netting is going to act like a cheese-grater.

[dtfpaf798]

I can't even imagine. What a horrible tragedy..

[bermstalker]

you would think a slide like this would be enclosed or at least have some very high side walls on it.

It looks like this place has been sued 3 times and settled out of court each time
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...afety-net.html

Investigators are treating the death as a 'civil matter' rather than a criminal incident, a police spokesman said Monday, as the park and Kansas authorities pressed to sort out what caused the tragedy.

An image shows netting being removed from a portion of the ride following the tragic incident on Sunday


Here's a video going down that slide

[Kelly-Jane]

What scares me ia that , i would so go on that. I have like no fear when it comes to rides. Ive always figured if it could kill you surely they wouldnt risk letting you on it and getting sued.
I was wrong. This is fucked up.

[songbirdsong]

Police are saying he died of a neck injury.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/07/us/kan...ath/index.html

[nestlequikie]

Witnesses say Caleb was decapitated.

Senator's son, 10, was 'decapitated when he was thrown through raft harness and safety net before plunging 50ft on the world's tallest waterslide'

Caleb Thomas Schwab, 10, died Sunday while riding an 168-foot-tall waterslide at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas

Witnesses say he was decapitated after he flew off raft and hit safety nets

On Monday, medical examiners were scheduled to conduct an autopsy on the body of Caleb, the son of Kansas state Congressman Scott Schwab

It's still unclear what went wrong on the ride, but police say they are not investigating his death as a criminal incident

Officials at the park said Monday that they will not be answering any more media questions about the deadly incident

On Sunday, officials said ' We honestly don't know what's happened'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz4GpkjoiFI

[daisylane]

Police are saying he died of a neck injury.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/07/us/kan...ath/index.html

So his head wasn't entirely ripped off then. "Neck injury". This needs to remain graphic for this fuckery to cease being able to happen.

I can't grasp opening a ride that has TESTED as faulty. I guess after spending money trying to fix it and failing they gave up and said 'fuck it, have to recoup $$ anyway'.

[twins027]

This is local for me, and so very heartbreaking! I found this video that caught my eye. Also...there are 2 yellow "blankets" at the end of the ride. That makes me wonder about the Neck injury vs decapitation. I would never go on this slide as I'm a huge baby with those things. I drive by it several times though and it makes me sick to just see it, let alone ride it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8nrv_rVp9M

[becoming]

LOOK at this slide, man. Why on earth would anyone ride that, let alone allow their 10-year-old to ride it? Furthermore, what 10-year-old would ever ride this? One of my four children is a risk taker, and I feel absolutely sure even he would not ride this. I am shaking thinking about it. Can you imagine how terrifying and traumatic for everyone involved? Ugh.

[Bewitchingstorm]

Gawd.

[animosity]

I'd have taken the ride. Like KJ, I work under the assumption that if companies offer you a service, it's pretty probably safe. Fuck companies that break that trust taking shortcuts.

I suspect some stupid teenager has some blood on his hands allowing a kid who was way under the height weight requirements to ride.