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Verruckt a "deadly weapon"

MrPhlegm

By MrPhlegm
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MrPhlegm

MrPhlegm 3413

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/kansas-water-park-executive-charged-slide-death-181214020.html

 

"KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas waterslide hyped as the world's highest was a "deadly weapon" that had already injured more than a dozen people before a 10-year-old boy was decapitated on it in 2016, according to a grand jury indictment unsealed Friday that charges the water park operator and an executive with involuntary manslaughter.

Operators of the Verruckt waterslide at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas, also knew that the raft Caleb Schwab and two women used during the deadly accident was prone to go faster and become airborne more than others. It was removed twice in 2016 but quickly put back into circulation, the indictment says.

"The ride was never properly or fully designed to prevent rafts from going airborne," the indictment said.

The waterpark and Tyler Austin Miles, 29, a former operations director at the park, were indicted Friday on involuntary manslaughter and several other charges in Caleb's death. The indictment alleges that a company co-owner and the designer of the Verruckt rushed it into use and had no technical or engineering expertise related to amusement park rides.

The charges come after a 19-month investigation into the death of Schwab, the son of Kansas Rep. Scott Schwab. The raft he was in went airborne, hitting a pole and netting designed to keep riders from being thrown from the ride.

The indictment says a video shows Caleb was following all rider instructions when he died.

The death seemed like an isolated accident until whistleblowers from Schlitterbahn revealed that experts who examined the slide found evidence indicating other rafts had gone airborne and collided with the overhead hoops and netting before the fatality, according to the indictment.

The ride complied with "few, if any" longstanding safety standards established by the American Society for Testing and Materials, and corporate correspondence found that "the child's death and the rapidly growing list of injuries were foreseeable and expected outcomes," according to the indictment.

Investigators found 13 injuries to others during the 182 days the ride operated, including two concussions and one case where a 15-year-old girl went temporarily blind.

A spokeswoman for Schlitterbahn did not immediately return a request for comment after the indictment against the company was unsealed.

The other charges in the indictment include aggravated battery and aggravated endangering a child. Miles was indicted on two counts of interference with law enforcement and Schlitterbahn was indicted on one count of interference with law enforcement.

The ride was created after Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeffrey Wayne Henry made a "spur of the moment" decision in 2012 to build the world's largest water slide to impress the producers of a Travel Channel show. The indictment says Henry's desire to "rush the project" and his and his designer's lack of expertise caused them to "skip fundamental steps in the design process."

The indictment also said not a single engineer was directly involved in Verruckt's engineering or slide path design.

Miles pleaded not guilty Friday during a brief court appearance. His attorneys asked that his bond be reduced to $15,000 from $50,000 but that request was denied. A trial was scheduled for Sept. 10.

Miles allegedly avoided or delayed repairs that would take Verruckt out of commission during the active park season and the ride's brake system failed 10 days before Caleb's death, investigators said. He also is accused of telling a police detective that he was unaware of any complaints about the ride and of withholding "thousands" of incriminating daily reports from lead lifeguards and supervisors.

Schlitterbahn, which is based in Texas, said in a statement after charges against Miles were announced that it was "deeply disappointed to learn any individual is being personally charged for the terrible accident on Verruckt.

"Our review of the facts and circumstances of the accident has never shown any evidence of criminal conduct on the part of anyone," spokeswoman Winter Prosapio said.

Scott Schwab and his attorney, Mike Rader, didn't immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.

The waterslide has been closed since Caleb's death. Schlitterbahn has said it will dismantle the ride when the investigation into the boy's death is complete.

Caleb Schwab's family reached settlements of nearly $20 million with Schlitterbahn and various companies associated with the design and construction of the waterslide. The two women who rode with Caleb suffered serious injuries and settled claims with Schlitterbahn for an undisclosed amount.

Before the boy's death, Kansas law allowed parks to conduct their own annual inspections of rides. Lawmakers last year nearly unanimously approved stricter, annual inspection requirements for amusement park rides that set qualifications for the inspectors and required parks to report injuries and deaths to the state.

But only weeks later, lawmakers passed a follow-up bill delaying the enforcement of criminal penalties for operating a ride without a state permit until this year. And this year, the Senate and a House committee have approved legislation to lessen regulation for "limited use" rides at events like county fairs and exempt some amusements, such as hay rides, from regulation."

 

 

 

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TexasEd

TexasEd 8067

Posted
Posted (edited)
38 minutes ago, Robin Masters said:

Your mom deemed my pensu a deadly weapon after it took repeated plunges to the bottom of her water slide.
Wait we're still doing the your mom thing here right?

 

 

Is that what hermaphrodites call their junk?

 

Edited by TexasEd
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Posted
Posted (edited)

Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry arrested in Texas on Verruckt-related charges

 

So, like I was saying on the other place.. I am amazed Jeff Henry hasn't been indicted for his role in killing the kid. I am no longer amazed.

Years from now, someone's going to write a business class on how to destroy the business your parents spent decades building. They overbuilt with all the new parks, the Corpus park is bankrupt (and apparently Gary and Jeff are no longer speaking as a result) and the special needs pothead brother designed a ride that he himself called dangerous and had things flying off that ended up killing a kid. I guess they are going to go out in a blaze of glory.

Edited by relapse98
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Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Richter said:

So, like I was saying on the other site, I still don't understand how the operations guy is liable.  Jeff Henry makes sense though.

Read the indictment.

Miles, at least the way its laid out there, is the #3 guy on the ride after Henry and Schooley. He knew rafts were going airborne, he hid the incident report from 6/16/2015. He coached a lifeguard on what to write on Grove''s incident report and destroyed the witness statements on that incident. He had the Schlitterbahn medical staff alter their medical reports. Miles avoided or delayed any repairs that would take Verrfukt out of commission during the season, even if it involved safety systems. The velcro restraints were allowed to deteriote to the point that they tore loose (velcro does that over time, doesn't take a high school drop out to know that). They patched tears and punctures on the rafts with duct tape (not waterproof). They didn't fix the broken brake system even after it completely failed 10 days before they collectively killed the kid. The staff orally reported and wrote 21 written reports to Miles that the brake system was failing and he did jack shit. The daily preopening inspection 4 times noted the failing braking system and it wasn't fixed. 23 days before the kids head fell off, a seasonal manager flagged the system as an urgent priority level 1 maintenance issue. Rides with that level are not supposed to operate until repaired. Miles possessed the authority to close Verrfukyouup and did not close it. Miles lied to a detective about complaints about the ride.

 

I think Miles probably didn't realize what the ride could do. Part of Shitterbahns defense is that he let his own wife ride it and had scheduled her for that day. Big whoop. If he is slow to catch on, then he probably did. That aint a defense. Miles, at least as the indictment puts it, had the power to shut down the ride. It was unsafe. It was noted by multiple, multiple, MULTIPLE staff members that it was unsafe and Miles and his employer chose to keep operating it. And now he gets to deal with the outcome. What'll be interesting to me is if Shitterbahn starts to throw him under the bus or circles the wagons with him inside. That's gonna be very telling.

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3 hours ago, TexasFootball18 said:

I think the operations guy is cleared in the end, but Henry and the 'chief designer' may be in jail.

He may get cleared of the manslaughter charge, not sure about the aggravated battery and aggravated endangering of a childs, but I'm pretty sure they will nail him to the wall for the interference with law enforcement concealing evidence and obstructing official duty. Put aside how he fucked up running the ride - he then lied to law enforcement and concealed documents. They will nail him for that.

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Posted
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U.S. Marshals search for designer of Schlitterbahn's Verruckt

 

An arrest has yet to be made and multiple sources tell 41 Action News it's because John Schooley is not in the United States.

The U.S. Marshals confirm they are, "Actively involved in talks with a foreign government to locate Schooley and return him to the United States."

 

Fleeing the country is going to make your case go really well.

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Godzillatron

Godzillatron 292

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These guys deserve what they're gonna get - everybody involved in the "design," construction and operation of this mess.  I hope the family of the boy gets every penny Schlitterbahn has.

I'm a professional engineer, and I agonize over everything I put my seal on because it involves public health and safety.  These guys just threw some shit together then hid the evidence when they figured out they might kill somebody.  

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pops

pops 6985

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Based on the last couple paragraphs it seems like the state of Kansas basically allowed you to build whatever you wanted with no oversight. Is that typical?

I don't like big gubmint getting all up in my business, but I would think that is one area I wouldn't mind a little oversight. 

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MrPhlegm

MrPhlegm 3413

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Based on the last couple paragraphs it seems like the state of Kansas basically allowed you to build whatever you wanted with no oversight. Is that typical?
I don't like big gubmint getting all up in my business, but I would think that is one area I wouldn't mind a little oversight. 
Ah, then you better not go WDW. the only oversight they got is Disney. They might as well be the Vatican.
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kopp0e

kopp0e 1135

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9 hours ago, MrPhlegm said:
On 4/1/2018 at 11:25 AM, pops said:
Based on the last couple paragraphs it seems like the state of Kansas basically allowed you to build whatever you wanted with no oversight. Is that typical?
I don't like big gubmint getting all up in my business, but I would think that is one area I wouldn't mind a little oversight. 

Ah, then you better not go WDW. the only oversight they got is Disney. They might as well be the Vatican.

Is Disneyland the same..? 

Or is it regulated by authorities from within the state of California...

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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/verruckt-waterslide-designer-pleads-not-guilty-caleb-schwab-death-kansas-city/

John Schooley, who designed the Verruckt slide for the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, Kansas, made his first court appearance Monday in the 2016 death of Caleb Schwab. Schooley remains jailed in Wyandotte County after being brought to Kansas from Texas Friday.

District Judge Roger Burns declined to lower Schooley's bond from $500,000 to $250,000 and ordered Schooley to surrender his passport.

Schooley's attorney, Justin Johnston, declined comment after the brief hearing.

Jeff Henry, co-owner of Texas-based Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts, pleaded not guilty last week to second-degree murder in Caleb's death.

A trial date for Henry and Schooley has been tentatively set for Sept. 10.

 

Oh this gonna be good then.

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https://www.ksat.com/news/schlitterbahn-co-owner-jeff-henry-accused-of-making-threats-to-woman-on-new-braunfels-property

 

Quote

New Braunfels police officers responded to an incident early Friday morning at a property owned by the family of Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry, hours after he pleaded not guilty in Kansas District Court in the decapitation death of a 10-year-old boy on a waterslide.

You'd think a guy under indictment for second degree murder would want to keep his name out of the news and nose clean, but apparently a Henry is gonna Henry.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45957

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On 3/30/2018 at 5:31 PM, Godzillatron said:

These guys deserve what they're gonna get - everybody involved in the "design," construction and operation of this mess.  I hope the family of the boy gets every penny Schlitterbahn has.

I'm a professional engineer, and I agonize over everything I put my seal on because it involves public health and safety.  These guys just threw some shit together then hid the evidence when they figured out they might kill somebody.  

I'm an engineer, but not registered, as I work on product design inside of corporations.  I have designed multiple systems that deal with enough energy to take out dozens of people if not designed properly.  To say I have agonized over the details would be to put it mildly.

One thing that is always helpful is a standard -- say for instance an ISO requirement on voltage, insulation, etc.  They provide a framework for design.  I seriously doubt there are any standards for "potentially lethal water coasters".  No fucking way would I ever work on such a project.

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BlueGreySky

BlueGreySky 1006

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During spring break we went to a water park and they had a slide, maybe a quarter of the size of this thing, that had multiple slopes and turns, some of the slopes uncovered like verruckt, with the netting and hoops holding it in place.  to say my asshole puckered a few times would not be false.  Of course there was no real danger as our raft didn't have the speed or the sizable drops that verruckt did, but it was still unsettling seeing a similar design/setup.  

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Schlitterbahn mortgage lender fears Verruckt indictments could endanger repayment

So Schlitterbahn overextended themselves in their rush to build South Padre, North Padre, Galveston, Kansas City.

They took on partners (see the f'ed up North Padre park) and lenders and now because mom's are losing their heads, the lender has warned that they might have to foreclose on those parks if Schlitterbahn can't repay the $174.3 million in loans. 

 

Jeff going bankrupt wouldn't be the worst thing. This is a picture of his "house". That crap on the right side by the road is logs stacked up, old shitty trailers, etc. And Google has a very good picture of it. It looks like utter destruction out there now. His land appears to be where Schlitterbahn goes to dump things.

To4fxyO.png

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bernorange

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Speaking of poorly engineering amusement park rides, this discussion reminded me of XLR-8 at Astroworld back in the day.  It was one of those rollercoasters where the cars hung from the track and could swing from side to side like a pendulum.  When the cars went around a bend, the cars would swing out from centrifugal force.  When they first constructed the ride, they tested it with heavy bags to simulate the weight of people in the cars.  At full speed, there was one bend in the track where the cars swung out and hit a support column.  They couldn't redesign the ride, so they ended up having to slow the ride to a stop right before that bend.  Roughly half way through the coaster ride, you came to full stop (IIRC) before starting up again.

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clapclapclap

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Posted (edited)
34 minutes ago, relapse98 said:

Jeff going bankrupt wouldn't be the worst thing. This is a picture of his "house". That crap on the right side by the road is logs stacked up, old shitty trailers, etc. And Google has a very good picture of it. It looks like utter destruction out there now. His land appears to be where Schlitterbahn goes to dump things.

To4fxyO.png

28bm2u.jpg

Edited by clapclapclap
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jimmyjazz

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6 minutes ago, bernorange said:

Speaking of poorly engineering amusement park rides, this discussion reminded me of XLR-8 at Astroworld back in the day.  It was one of those rollercoasters where the cars hung from the track and could swing from side to side like a pendulum.  When the cars went around a bend, the cars would swing out from centrifugal force.  When they first constructed the ride, they tested it with heavy bags to simulate the weight of people in the cars.  At full speed, there was one bend in the track where the cars swung out and hit a support column.  They couldn't redesign the ride, so they ended up having to slow the ride to a stop right before that bend.  Roughly half way through the coaster ride, you came to full stop (IIRC) before starting up again.

Without seeing the structural limitations imposed by local terrain, etc. it would be hard to say for sure why that was even possible, but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that such a roller coaster should probably be designed in such a way that THE CARS CAN'T COME IN CONTACT WITH THE SUPPORTS.  Yeesh.

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KaiserSoze

KaiserSoze 998

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Speaking of poorly engineering amusement park rides, this discussion reminded me of XLR-8 at Astroworld back in the day. 

Roughly half way through the coaster ride, you came to full stop (IIRC) before starting up again.


I remember that well, still a fun ride but that stop was always awkward.
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Grade of D as in David

Grade of D as in David 13253

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On 4/13/2018 at 11:03 AM, bernorange said:

Speaking of poorly engineering amusement park rides, this discussion reminded me of XLR-8 at Astroworld back in the day.  It was one of those rollercoasters where the cars hung from the track and could swing from side to side like a pendulum.  When the cars went around a bend, the cars would swing out from centrifugal force.  When they first constructed the ride, they tested it with heavy bags to simulate the weight of people in the cars.  At full speed, there was one bend in the track where the cars swung out and hit a support column.  They couldn't redesign the ride, so they ended up having to slow the ride to a stop right before that bend.  Roughly half way through the coaster ride, you came to full stop (IIRC) before starting up again.

Also caused them to change the name of the ride from Str8-N2-d-Pole

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SubliminalHorn

SubliminalHorn 6788

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On 4/11/2018 at 9:42 AM, relapse98 said:

https://www.ksat.com/news/schlitterbahn-co-owner-jeff-henry-accused-of-making-threats-to-woman-on-new-braunfels-property

 

You'd think a guy under indictment for second degree murder would want to keep his name out of the news and nose clean, but apparently a Henry is gonna Henry.

Dude it’s Jeff Henry, what do you expect

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Posted
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IBC Bank takes over Schlitterbahn park at foreclosure auction

Quote

IBC Bank took over ownership of the Schlitterbahn Riverpark & Resort on North Padre Island at a foreclosure auction today after a bankruptcy trustee failed to find another buyer.

The bank bid $20 million of the roughly $32 million it’s owed by the previous owner of the park, resort and surrounding land, according to San Antonio lawyer Jon Lowe, who conducted the auction. No one else submitted a bid.

And good luck, IBC, actually turning a profit on that 32 million. I'd bet dollars to tubes that insurance for water rides built by the Henry's went up a bit after their engineering debacle.

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More about Jeff Henry's incident after he arrived back in Texas

Quote

Specifically, she claims Henry threatened to kill her son C.J. Conn, who used to work for Henry and is currently in a Texas jail for violating probation in a theft case.

Lange said Henry told her, "I'm going to kill your son. I'll bond him out of jail and kill him.

 

Of course, that isn't as bad as the time he was accused of rape and assume by a former wife:

Quote

"There was a lot of hitting, there was a lot of kicking, there was a lot of rape, there was using a belt," Settree testified in court records.

"He's crazy, he pulled a gun on me. He made me hold the bullets and raped me for three hours," Settree added.

Settree also claims Henry stomped on her foot so hard, it's required pins to repair the breaks.

 

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 105142

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2 minutes ago, relapse98 said:

IBC Bank takes over Schlitterbahn park at foreclosure auction

And good luck, IBC, actually turning a profit on that 32 million. I'd bet dollars to tubes that insurance for water rides built by the Henry's went up a bit after their engineering debacle.

Went there for a conference this summer.

The water park was fine -- the boy and his friend had fun....but we had planned on 2.5 days there, and it turns out that after 1.5, they were done.  It was hot as hell and windy, so the beach was not an option, so we just headed on back home.

But the resort.  What a shithole.  The hotel didn't have an in-house restaurant worth a shit -- no place with AC.  And no real bar -- they had a little pool bar, and a little beachside bar, both of which were small, crappy, and closed early.

They spent all that money developing the place, but didn't go the extra 1% effort to make it hospitable for the parents.  

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