Son of Kansas State Republican Scott Schwab, 10-year-old Caleb Schwab was killed in an incident on Sunday while on the “Verruckt” ride at the Schlitterbahn WaterPark in Kansas City.
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Caleb died Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016, while riding the Verruckt, a water slide that’s billed as the world’s largest, at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kan.
Two women who are not family members were in the raft at the time with the boy and were treated for facial injuries. Emergency responders found the boy dead in a pool at the end of the ride.
The nation’s thoughts and prayers are with the Schwab family.
The park reopened Wednesday except for the sprawling section including the waterslide, although its towering profile greeting visitors as soon as they drove through the entrance. Kansas City, Kansas, police spokesman Officer Cameron Morgan said the boy died at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark, which is located about 15 miles west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri. He said investigators were treating Caleb’s death as a “civil matter” rather than a criminal one and referred additional questions to the park.
A spokeswoman for the waterpark on Wednesday declined to discuss the circumstances of the boy’s death.
FILE – In this July 9, 2014 file photo, riders are propelled by jets of water as they go over a hump while riding a water slide called “Verruckt” at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kan.
“I’m really having a tough time with it”. She said she wriggled out of them without much effort.
When it initially opened, the park advertised the ride for only people 14 years and older. Passengers then are “blasted back up a second massive hill and then sent down yet another gut wrenching 50 foot drop”, the website adds.
Riders, who must be at least 54 inches tall, were harnessed with two nylon seatbelt-like straps – one that crossed the rider’s lap, the other stretching diagonally like a vehicle shoulder seatbelt. It was not immediately known whether Caleb met the height requirement.
Schlitterbahn in Kansas City has been sued for negligence at least three times – all in 2014 – though none of those legal actions involved the waterslide. As we try to mend our home with him no longer with us, we are comforted knowing he believed in his Saviour, Jesus, and they are forever together now.
Verruckt’s 2014 opening repeatedly was delayed, though the operators didn’t explain why.
This was not the only thing that was rescheduled, as two media preview days were cancelled in the same year due to issues with the conveyor belt system that lifts the heavy rafts up to the top of the slide.
“I didn’t understand what was going on so I only saw Caleb sliding down the last half of the slide, and then I saw the blood”.
The Unified Government of Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County said it does not inspect the operations of such rides and is responsible only for ensuring they’ve adhered to local building codes.
Without specifically mentioning waterslides, Kansas statutes define an “amusement ride” as any mechanical or electrical conveyance “for the objective of giving its passengers amusement, pleasure, thrills or excitement”.
Theme parks with “fixed” rides, like roller coasters and water slides, are exempt from federal oversight.
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( KTRS ) The Illinois Department of Labor is carrying out routine inspections of rides and attractions from now thr.
