On a Sunday in August, 10-year-old Caleb Schwab left church with his family and headed to the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City.
It was “Elected Official Day,” and his dad’s job as a state legislator qualified them all for admission.
Caleb climbed to the top of Verruckt, the world’s tallest water slide at 17 stories, named for the German word that means insane, and prepared for the 60-mile per hour ride that would plunge him down, then up, then down again.
Along the way, something went wrong.
Two women sustained facial injuries on the ride. Caleb was killed.
Police said the boy died from a “fatal neck injury,” reported the Kansas City Star.
The ride was shuttered at the time, but it’s been unclear what the water slide’s fate would be since the park closed for the season earlier this fall.
On Tuesday, Schlitterbahn announced the attraction will be demolished.
“Once the investigation is concluded and we are given permission by the court, Verruckt will be decommissioned – closed permanently and the slide removed from the tower,” the park said in a statement. “In our opinion, it is the only proper course of action following this tragedy.”
Kansas City police continue to investigate the deadly tragedy to determine if a crime was committed, reported the Star. No information – included what caused Caleb’s fatal injury – will be released until authorities are finished.
The statement continued:
“All of us at Schlitterbahn have been heartbroken over the tragedy that occurred on Verrückt. In our 50 years of providing an environment for families and friends to gather, we’ve never experienced this kind of devastating event. The safety of our staff and our guests is our top priority. We are parents and grandparents ourselves and many of us have ridden Verrückt with our own children and grandchildren over the years it operated.”
The amusement park said that eventually, it will announce plans to build something else in the water slide’s place.
Experts hired by attorneys representing Caleb’s family and the other two women injured on the ride, Hannah Barnes and Matraca Baetz, independently investigated the towering Verrückt and the raft they were riding in September, the Star reported at the time.
Initial news reports from the day of the incident quoted multiple water park guests who said the harnesses on the ride were not working properly. Reporters at the Star later talked to more park-goers who shared similar experiences with loose restraints and air-borne rafts.
The fallout after Caleb’s death was not the first time safety concerns had been raised about the water slide.
In August, Washington Post reporter Michael Miller summarized Verrückt’s history:
“Before it opened two years ago, the Verruckt had to be partially torn down and redesigned. According to USA Today, the changes were made after rafts flew off the slide at high speeds during test rides.
“‘It’s dangerous, but it’s a safe dangerous now,’ ride co-creator and Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry told the newspaper in July 2014. ‘Schlitterbahn is a family water park, but this isn’t a family ride. It’s for the thrill seekers of the world, people into extreme adventure.'”
When Caleb climbed aboard the water slide raft, he sat in the front seat. Behind him were two women he did not know, reported the Star. He weighed 73 pounds, the woman behind him weighed 197 pounds and the second woman, seated at the back, weighed 275 pounds.
In interviews with the Star, experts have questioned why Caleb – the lightest of them all – was placed at the front of the raft. Too much weight at the back could shove the front upward, Mariusz Ziejewski, an engineering and director of the Impact Biomechanics Laboratory at North Dakota State University told the newspaper.
“You kind of have this catapult upwards,” Ziejewski said. “Maybe this was a contributing factor. That’s not good.”
Featured Image: MARK STGEORGE
(c) 2016, The Washington Post · Katie Mettler
