Schlitterbahn corporation indicted in Kansas water slide death
KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Claiming corporate executives were rushed, careless and lacked expertise to design a thrill ride, an indictment Friday levied criminal charges against Schlitterbahn Water Park in the death of 10-year-old Caleb Schwab.
The 47-page indictment pulls together internal emails, blueprints, recordings and interviews with key witnesses to paint a picture that Schlitterbahn marched the 17-story Verruckt ride in Kansas City, Kan., to a public opening in 2014, despite serious questions about the ride's safety.
The indictment also says that several riders had suffered injuries on Verruckt, ranging from concussions to lacerations to slipped spinal disks, and that "documentation of injuries began almost immediately."
"(T)his child's death and the rapidly growing list of injuries were foreseeable and expected outcomes," the indictment said. "Verruckt's designers and operators knew that Verruckt posed a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death or severe bodily harm."
Caleb died on Aug. 7, 2016, when, while going down Verruckt, his raft went airborne and he was decapitated by a metal hoop that supported a netting system atop the ride. He had been seated in the front.
A director of operations, Tyler Austin Miles, has also been indicted. Miles, 29, surrendered to authorities on Friday and has been released on bond.
_The Kansas City Star
