He is a man of God," Hickey said.Thank you for your recent visit with your family to Zoom Flume Water Park. Meador's doctors said he will be able to walk. The family will be suing for lost wages, pain and suffering, he said. Meador is unable to work and faces a long rehabilitation, Hickey said. The park was open for the remainder of its season, which ended on Labor Day.Īs for the details of the incident, the state report "confirmed what our suspicions were from what we had heard from other eyewitnesses," Hickey said. The Canyon Plunge ride closed briefly after Meador's accident but reopened the same day. A Labor Department inspector visited the park on June 24, 25 and 27 and July 8, according to documents Hickey obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request. Zoom Flume's water slides passed inspection three times over the summer. Several messages left for Kerrigan on Monday were not returned. Zoom Flume is owned and operated by the family of Denise Kerrigan. The slide, which is designed primarily for adults, should have been staffed by employees 18 or older. 5 and issued four violations for failure to immediately report a serious accident within 24 hours inspect the slide before it opened keep a maintenance and safety schedule for the slide and staff the slide with employees of the proper age. The agency learned of the incident in a call from the Times Union and began an investigation.Īn inspector visited the park on Sept. Canyon Plunge appears at 1:25 in the video See More CollapseĪccording to the report, Zoom Flume never notified the Department of Labor about the accident. Canyon Plunge appears at 1:30 in the video YouTube videos of Canyon Plunge ride at Zoom Flume Water Park "I prayed with him until the manager and supervisor came," the lifeguard wrote. The lifeguard held Meador's hand and called for help. Once I realized this, I turned to stop the staff from sending him, but the man blew past me and with no signs of slowing he slammed into the end of the exit pool." "As I was running to the lifeguard chair I noticed the plug for the water was out and there was almost no water at the bottom.
"I jumped the rope and ran as fast as I could," he said in a written statement included in the report. The lifeguard was walking toward the Canyon Plunge slide when he saw Meador at the top. The names of the employees were redacted. The slide starter instructed Meador to lie down, cross his legs and lock his fingers behind his head and launched him down the slide, according to the report. The lifeguard was at another slide, waiting for another employee to relieve him so he could open Canyon Plunge. The lifeguard uses hand signals to tell the employee at the top of the ride - the slide starter - to send a rider down.Īccording to the Labor Department report, the slide starter at the top of the ride arrived at his post before the lifeguard at the bottom was there. Riders usually exit the slide into a trough of water 4 or 5 inches deep that drags them to a stop.Ī lifeguard/attendant is responsible for visually checking the bottom trough area before opening and throughout the day, according to the state report. The drop is steep and straight, and riders must be more than 42 inches tall. It is a body ride, meaning riders do not sit on a tube or pad but ride down on their backs. The state agency, which inspects amusement parks and investigates accidents, did not respond to requests for information and comment for this story.Ĭanyon Plunge is a 150-foot-long uncovered slide built into a hill. Hickey provided the Labor Department accident report and notice of Zoom Flume's violations to the Times Union. He declined to be interviewed for this story because of the impending litigation. Meador, 46, went to the park in East Durham with his family and members of his United Methodist congregations in Coeymans Hollow and Dormansville. Hickey, a lawyer with Martin, Harding and Mazzotti who is filing a lawsuit against Zoom Flume on Meador's behalf. "He has a long road ahead," said Peter J. Plates and screws are holding his bones in place and he will be in a wheelchair for months. He underwent several surgeries at Albany Medical Center Hospital and finally went home on Sept. Meador broke both heels and multiple bones in his ankles and feet. He exited the slide into a runoff that was nearly empty of water and slammed into a concrete barrier feet-first. At 11 a.m., Meador was the first rider of the day.
0 kommentar(er)
