Caleb Schwab, 10, died on a Kansas City waterslide Sunday. He was there with his family (his dad is a Kansas GOP state legislator) for “Elected Officials Day.”
He was decapitated when his raft flew off the ride.
In Sam Brownback’s Kansas, where they like to brag about deregulation. They have very few requirements, as it turns out. They do have annual self-inspections, which we all know are incredibly useful.
The designer of the world’s highest waterslide specifically said they built it in Kansas because there were no regulations on height. It took a while before it passed safety tests.
It used to be that you had to be 14 years old to ride the Verruckt, because there had to be at least 400 lbs. in the raft to pass safety tests. We don’t know why that changed.
Did I mention Caleb was 10?
It’s not just Kansas, although Gov. Brownback certainly is proud of his deregulated paradise. Turns out there’s very little regulation on amusement parks anywhere — including Disney. So little, that when someone is injured or killed on a ride, the state of Florida doesn’t even get to inspect it. They get to “investigate” the incident, but they don’t get to inspect the ride. Useful!
That’s because the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions pays a lot of lobbyists, and so far, they’ve been very good at making sure your kids and grandchildren remain at risk — because to do otherwise would put profits at risk, and we can’t have that, can we?
And this is what I want to say when disappointed progressives tell me they’re going to vote for Gary Johnson “because he’s really progressive.” No, he’s not. This is the kind of world Gary Johnson is fine with, the kind of world where a 10-year-old kid is decapitated. It’s the “cost of freedom.”
And we wouldn’t want some manly man calling us a “nanny state,” would we?
How horrible – I’m so sorry for this child and his family.
And in the end the park will lose so much more money than if they had taken the precautions, yes?
Now on to tort reform, because this kid’s parents just need to buck up!
Like My Hero clint “don’t be a pussy state” said,
WALK IT OFF KID, JUST WALK IT OFF!
This is absolutely horrifying. As a mom , I can’t imagine having to watch your child die like this. Every park needs to have safety regulations. There is a reason that people of certain heights or ages cannot ride yet. When it come to people’s safety, that cannot be ignored.
Nicely-Nicely
I wouldn’t expect that people in Kansas will stop riding this ride. How soon they forget. People are used to trusting that it is proper and right for government to keep their communities safe — safe roads, safe food and water, and safe rides.
Most people are blissfully unaware how much conservatives in the name of liberty and lobby corruption of right wing government will abandon their duty and leave their citizens twisting in the wind. In this case, headless.
Although not mentioned in the article, it wouldn’t surprise me to find that the parents can not sue either, because the amusement parks are protected from that form of accountability as well. It would cut into their profits to have to carry insurance or risk being sued for being negligently dangerous.
To the right, in spite of their family values claims, kids are entirely expendable.