Caleb is the son of Republican state Rep. Scott Schwab of Olathe. 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.
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A 10-year-old boy was killed after riding the world’s tallest waterslide in Kansas City, Kansas.
Emergency responders arrived at the scene to find the boy dead in a pool at the end of the ride. The two women riding in the raft with Caleb suffered minor facial injuries.
The Wyandotte County coroner’s office conducted an autopsy on Monday but it is unclear whether they will publicly release the results.
Verruckt, which means “insane” in German, was certified as the world’s tallest water slide, at 168-feet, by Guinness World Records.
Sprague said the family had been to church on Sunday morning and heard it was “Elected Officials Day” at the Schlitterbahn park.
“Since the day he was born, he brought abundant joy to our family and all those who he came into contact with”, Scott and mother Michele Schwab said in a statement.
Leslie Castaneda told The Kansas City Star that she had seen the blood-streaked ride shortly after the horrific incident and Caleb’s distraught family gathered nearby. He may not have met the ride’s minimum height requirement of 54 inches.
Verruckt’s 2014 opening repeatedly was delayed, though the operators didn’t explain why.
Another witness, who had gone down the slide earlier that day, noted that his 14-year-old cousin’s daughter, who was in the raft with him, complained that the Velcro on her safety belt had come undone, reports ABC 7 News.
Without specifically mentioning waterslides, Kansas statutes define an “amusement ride” as any mechanical or electrical conveyance “for the goal of giving its passengers amusement, pleasure, thrills or excitement”. Kansas’ Labor Department didn’t return messages Monday.
Prosapio said Sunday the park’s rides are inspected daily and by an “outside party” before the start of each season.
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A witness to the tragedy has revealed some of the gruesome details surrounding the boy’s death.
