Ten-Year-Old Seriously Injured in Florida Adventure Park Accident
A Florida boy recently was seriously injured in an accident after he fell nearly twenty feet from a zip line onto a concrete floor at an adventure park in Lakeland after not being properly strapped into a safety harness by park staff. These types of tragic incidents are unfortunately too common at amusement and adventure parks in Florida, which often may have inadequately trained staff or rides that have not been properly maintained or lack necessary safety features. Given that it is often children that are the most likely to use these types of rides, this is a very concerning example of a larger safety problem for Florida’s children.
The Lakeland Zip Line Accident
According to a report from ABC News, the ten–year–old Lakeland boy was attending a neighbor’s birthday party at the Urban Air Adventure Park in Lakeland on September 1st. He wanted to ride the park’s Sky Rider zipline ride, which carries a rider strapped into a harness along a zip line that runs around the entire park 20 feet above the floor. The safety harness that he was strapped into prior to embarking on the ride was not even checked by park staff for proper fit or even tightened for maximum safety before the ride began. As a result, halfway through the ride, the boy fell 20 feet onto a cement floor. The boy’s mother, who was not with him at the birthday party, received a telephone call from park staff informing her that her son was being airlifted to Tampa General Hospital as a result of his injuries. The child ended up spending five days in the hospital with a head injury, broken bones and a collapsed lung as a result of the incident. His mother now has filed a lawsuit on his behalf seeking compensation for his injuries from the adventure park’s owner and operator. Investigators contacted by the media found that the incident occurred as a result of the safety harness not being properly secured around the child. The leg straps of the boy’s safety harness were not even buckled, meaning that the only thing that secured the boy to the ride was his arms holding onto the ride. When he left go at one point during the ride because he could not hold on any longer, he fell 20 feet to the concrete floor.
Amusement and Adventure Park Safety In Florida
Florida is chock full of amusement and adventure parks and other entertainment venues, from Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando to Busch Gardens in Tampa to smaller adventure parks like the one at which the recent incident in Lakeland took place. Florida is a tourist destination for families and their children for the state’s many family-friendly attractions. However, not all amusement or adventure parks are created equally, particularly when it comes to safety. Many ride operators may either have a checkered safety history or have given no training whatsoever to their staff as to how to safely restrain riders on amusement park rides like the Sky Rider zipline ride at the Urban Air Adventure Park that a boy in Lakeland was recently injured while using. Parents need to be particularly careful given that children are uniquely vulnerable to negligence by amusement and adventure park staff who not even care enough to ensure children are safe while using rides.
Contact Schwed Adams & McGinley if You or A Loved One Have Been Injured in a Florida Amusement or Adventure Park Accident
At Schwed Adams & McGinley, our experienced personal injury attorneys have decades of legal experience representing those injured in a wide variety of scenarios, including in Florida amusement or adventure park accidents. Although amusement and adventure parks can be fun and exciting, amusement and adventure park accidents can and do occur with regularity given the checkered safety records at many of these parks. If you have been the victim of a Florida amusement or adventure park accident, you may be entitled to substantial damages if you were injured as a result of someone else’s negligence. Therefore if you or a loved one has been injured in a Florida amusement or adventure park accident, contact our experienced personal injury attorneys today at contact@schwedlaw.com or (877) 694-6079 today.