Girl Defeeted by Roller Coaster Ride

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/21/six.flags.accident/index.html

(CNN) -- A girl's feet were cut off Thursday when a free-fall thrill ride malfunctioned at the Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom Amusement Park in Louisville, Kentucky, police said.

A cord wrapped around the 16-year-old's feet and severed them at her ankles while she was on the "Superman Tower of Power," a police dispatcher said. The girl was taken to a local hospital.

An unidentified witness told CNN affiliate WLKY she saw a cable on the ride snap.

"The people on the ride just came and hit the ground," she said. "When I got up there, the lady she was just sitting there, and she didn't have no legs. ... And she was just there, calm, probably in shock from everything."

"That could have been all of us -- riding that ride," witness Whitney Sandfer told CNN affiliate WDRB/WMYO.

The incident took place shortly before 5 p.m. ET, according to Six Flags spokeswoman Wendy Goldberg. The park remained open, but the ride in question was shut down and will remain so until the full investigation is complete, Goldberg said.

During the ride, passengers are lifted to 177 feet, suspended momentarily and then dropped, according to the park's Web site.

Passengers drop 154 feet at 54 mph, stopping "just 20 terrifying feet above the pavement," it adds.

"I seen the car go up. Then, like, the cable broke, I heard -- pwchh -- and I heard a lot of people screaming," Chris Stinnett, who was at a ride next to the Superman Tower of Power, told WDRB/WMYO.

"The cable went under the car -- and I seen it pull up and hit a lot of people -- and I seen them bring their legs up," Stinnett said.

The ride was introduced in 1995.

[Hatsumomo]

I heard this on the local news a few days ago. Holy fuck. I hope they were able to reattach her feet.

[4letterwords]

Je-sus!

[Kwiz]

Seconded... and reattachment surgery might not be so easy in this case.

[Jetsetlemming]

So a cable snapped and it wrapped itself around her legs or something. When I heard of this before, it sounded like she was swinging her feet or something and got them caught in some random piece of the ride as it dropped.
As an aside, those tower drop rides are fucking stupid, and the only purpose they serve is to increase your "I'm about to throw up" quotient. Same thing with the swing things that just move back and forth without any other movement direction.

[Saitou Hajime]

A few days ago I read that she was in stable condition, but the family asked the hospital staff not to reveal if the feet were reattached or not, due to wanting privacy. My guess is that they weren't, then.

[Hatsumomo]

Ugh, poor girl. To be 16 and suddenly find yourself with some glaring deformity/disability.

[xinster]

i like the grammar of the witness

[4letterwords]

I just read that the girl was 13... hmm

[SlickWilly440]

I rode that superman ride at Six Flax over Texas ...well in Texas. The ride itself was okay, if you used to the feeling of you stomach dropping.

[Plekto]

That's why the better rides use the old elevator system. the entire hing rises up a giant elevator shaft and then is edged outwards to a track that it drops down. Nothing at all to break and go flying.

I guess Mythbusters was wrong on the whole cable cutting you in half thing...

[b4k4ni04]

torso vs ankles, in reference to what they tested on mythbusters. A lot of other variables to be considered between the mythbusters test, and this incident as well D:.

Overall *blaaaah* . ouch x_x, and the grammar of the witnesses loses D:.

[Ivor's Tinfoil Bandana]

I don't really like roller coasters...If I want fun I prefer this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungee_jumping).
Anyway, that's quite horrible for this girl :/

[Fermented Yeast Paste]

i like the grammar of the witness
Kentucky.

[SlickWilly440]

That's why the better rides use the old elevator system. the entire hing rises up a giant elevator shaft and then is edged outwards to a track that it drops down. Nothing at all to break and go flying.


Yeah there was a ride like that at Six Flags also, it was called the G-Force.

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

I'm just glad no one got mad at me because of the topic title.

[Saitou Hajime]

It's tasteless and the ride's not a roller coaster, but the content itself is more important.

[Fermented Yeast Paste]

I'm just glad no one got mad at me because of the topic title.

Well it's not like you were the one to think it up.

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

Well it's not like you were the one to think it up.

Originality isn't my strong point.

[PopCulturePooka]

The topic title is a delicious pun!

[Pierrot le Fou]

I'm sure that poor girl isn't going to stand for the thread title. It's certainly not going to help you sweep her off her feet, if that's what you're trying to do.

[MNJetter]

*groan*

PLF, you too?

Both of you should be flogged with a dictionary. :P

[Pierrot le Fou]

I wouldn't want to end up with my foot in my mouth on this one, so I'm trying to keep it respectful. I just think this whole tragedy could have been avoided if she were a foot shorter. One thing is certain, she's certainly got a foot in the door if she decides to blow six flags open with a lawsuit!

[Mastiker]

I'm just stumped about how people can make puns like these. You must be a couple of feet short of a yard if you think it's funny.

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

I feel like I crossed the line.

By a foot or so.

[Pierrot le Fou]

You guys are all amateurs. You're going to foot the bill when she starts suing your for libel. You won't have a leg to stand on. For fuck's sake guys, learn how to toe the line better.

[Mastiker]

You guys are all amateurs. You're going to foot the bill when she starts suing your for libel. You won't have a leg to stand on. For fuck's sake guys, learn how to toe the line better.

:_(

[Zugzwang]

That's pretty terrible.

I've been to Kentucky Kingdom and have ridden something similar to that: the Hellevator, or something.

<_<

Yeah, it was pretty awesome.

Neeeeeways... it sucks: what happened to the girl.

[Pierrot le Fou]

I don't want to be podiatric, but making puns about other people's tragedies absolutely socks. Hopefully her feet will heel.

[Zonehunter1]

You have made my day, good sir.

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

<3.

[Zugzwang]

I don't want to be podiatric,...
Having one's feet ripped from their body via a cable on an amusment ride hardly qualifies as a 'disease of the human foot'. In other words: this has nothing to do with podiatry, nullifying you from being podiatric about the event.

Your pun has failed. You should immediately take an ice pick and lunge it into your neck.

Maggot...

lollllolololol

[Mastiker]

Having one's feet ripped from their body via a cable on an amusment ride hardly qualifies as a 'disease of the human foot'. In other words: this has nothing to do with podiatry.

You fail.

Aw, I wanted to tell him. :gloomy:

Nobody is letting me win tonight! :meh:

[Zugzwang]

You can have the credit if you want.

[Fermented Yeast Paste]

During the ride, passengers are lifted to 177 feet, suspended momentarily and then dropped, according to the park's Web site.
Even higher now, with the addition of two feet at the base.

[Zonehunter1]

You cannot win against PLF, it is scientific fact.

[Radiance]

I heard about this cause my co-workers thought it happened at Six Flags over Georgia as we have a similar ride called Acrophobia. As a result they shut down all rides similar to it. I fucking told everyone that ride sucked, they never should have removed Free fall. The elevator cage style was much better.

[4letterwords]

I don't want to be podiatric, but making puns about other people's tragedies absolutely socks. Hopefully her feet will heel.

You make me happy in my panties.

[Pierrot le Fou]

podiatric = pedantic
socks = sucks
heel = heal

Some people are dumb. I am not those people.

Anyway, I honestly do feel bad about making fun of a poor girl with no feet. I hope that she recovers and learns to cope with the GAZILLIONS OF DOLLARS she'll get out of this, and that it makes her life a little happier even if she did lose her feet.

And hopefully she doesn't make me her arch-enemy.

(I wonder if her name was Peg?)

[Azrael]

You know, I think I'd choose having my feet over any monetary settlement, no matter how grand it may be.

I dunno. I kinda like walking.

[Sock Full of Boiled Dimes]

Yes, but if you are rich enough and wait you'll have cybernetic feet.

And that's just so much cooler than real feet.

[Pierrot le Fou]

If it were arms, I'd agree. Or if it were ears, or your nose or something. That'd make it hard to get laid. With a bazillion dollars and no feet in a bizarre accident I would have no trouble striking up conversation with women in a bar, and luring them back to my apartment to screw them silly with my perfectly functional wang.

[Zugzwang]

podiatric = pedantic
socks = sucks
heel = heal

Some people are dumb. I am not those people.
Oh, I see wut u did there.

[Radiance]

If it were arms, I'd agree. Or if it were ears, or your nose or something. That'd make it hard to get laid. With a bazillion dollars and no feet in a bizarre accident I would have no trouble striking up conversation with women in a bar, and luring them back to my apartment to screw them silly with my perfectly functional wang.

I could agree if I didn't know enough people with a walking impediment. Even after she gets used to the prosthesis through a lot of very hard physical rehabilitation, its unlikely she will be able to walk normally. If she can ever run that is going to take an extremely long time to cope with not only physically but mentally. While the monetary compensation is sure to be absurd it is no comparison to a healthy body. :/ While I am sure she will learn to cope with this in time on her own terms, a good portion of that is because she is still young and has a lot of time ahead of her, but it sure as hell isn't something to wish for.

I'm glad there are doctor patient agreements. Otherwise i'm sure the media would be all over their family. (Not that they probably aren't anyhow.) I wonder how many lawyers started banging on their door the second they released the girl's name. :X

[Pierrot le Fou]

I would not wish for it. Ever. I would rather have the feet, most likely, but my point is that there are far larger tragedies, and while this is a freak accident with high newsability, there are plenty of non-limbed folk without the huge settlement to buy happiness with. Losing your feet is pretty massive, but the money makes it far less painful.

[Jetsetlemming]

I would not wish for it. Ever. I would rather have the feet, most likely, but my point is that there are far larger tragedies, and while this is a freak accident with high newsability, there are plenty of non-limbed folk without the huge settlement to buy happiness with. Losing your feet is pretty massive, but the money makes it far less painful.
Especially if you trick yourself out with tank treads afterwards.

[japanat]

What happened to this girl sucks, big time... My brother-in-law is in the same boat, so to speak, he lost one foot last month to a bone growth. But at least his Halloween costume kind of picks itself

But Jesus, talk about one foot in the grave. Was she the sole injury?

Phate, you made my wife angry at me for laughing too loud about the ride being higher.

[RandomPasserby]

You guys know that she will win more than enough money to send the Armenian mafia to defeet you all for those puns? I sold out you all and I'm sure the mafia are already at Azrael's door asking which he wants to keep, his feet or your ip addresses :|

[Angelyne]

Another amusement park tragedy; this one ends in death. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070630/ap_on_re_us/amusement_park_death;_ylt=AtoQzafJFlOH.ypHJhslGYzM WM0F)

Police aren't releasing details on how it happened, though.

[Plekto]

I'm sorry for laughing. I know I'm a bad, bad person, but did anyone get the name of the ride in that article? Yep. "Mind Scrambler".

The little girl(who obviously was too small for the ride) wiggled free from the retaining bar and was thrown when the thing started up.

Oh - as for the girl in the first incident, losing your feet sucks, but she'll survive quite well. As long as you lose part of your leg below knee, you can lead a pretty normal life. Now, if you really want to know what sucks, it's the tens of thousands or so of vets in the U.S. with missing limbs from Iraq and Afganistan who are getting no help at all. I read that over a hundred thousand vets in the U.S. have no health coverage at all, either. The V.A. has essentially told them to get lost.

[BeautifulDirt]

See? This is what happens! That's why I don't ride anything like that. I should probably let my try anything sister about this...

Plus, your foot jokes were...how should I phrase this...terrible yet hilarious XD They made my day (that's a little better, I guess).

[Trump]

I think they were able to partially reattach one foot. The other was too badly mangled =(

[Hatsumomo]

The statement about her feet: http://www.wlky.com/news/13616604/detail.html