An amusement park worker killed on a ride was among the riders imploring the operator to get the ride going instead of at her post monitoring an emergency shut-off switch, police said Monday, citing witnesses.Investigators also found in a preliminary probe that 21-year-old Gabriella Garin, who had worked for seven years at Playland in Rye, about 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan, probably was not wearing her seat belt, Westchester County police Commissioner Thomas Belfiore said.
Garin was killed Friday night at Playland, the landmark county-owned park in Rye, when she was ejected from the Mind Scrambler. It was the second death on the ride, and the third on a Playland ride, since 2004.
Belfiore said about 10 witnesses indicated that Garin “was not secured in the car and that when the ride started she knelt on the seat. Some witnesses say she then stood on the seat and then fell from the ride.”
When she fell, within 30 seconds of startup, she was struck by the speeding, spinning cars, he said.
The man who was running the ride said he thought she was belted in, Belfiore said. The operator, whose name has not been made public, reported that Gavin was urging him to start the ride.
The special booth with a cutoff switch was installed after the first death on the ride, which is owned and operated by S&L Amusements.
“We were fully expecting and were under the impression that they were staffing that other booth every time the ride was open with another person in there who had been trained how to use the emergency cutoff switch,” county parks Commissioner Joseph Stout said.
There was no listing for S&L in phone directories or in a search of business records. Stout said the company’s lawyers had pledged cooperation.
The state Department of Labor, which inspects amusement park rides, said its investigators tentatively concurred with the scenario put forth by the county.
Friday’s accident was at least the third serious one in eight days at U.S. amusement parks.
In Louisville, Ky., investigators with the state Department of Agriculture said Monday they have taken possession of a cable they believe broke and severed 13-year-old Kaitlyn Lasitter’s feet June 21 at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. The girl’s family said last week that she was hospitalized in stable condition, but they did not say whether her feet had been reattached.
A 13-year-old girl who hit her head on a spinning ride Thursday at Boomers, just south of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., remained sedated Monday in intensive care. Inspectors found no mechanical problems with the ride.
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