13 Children Injured in Connecticut Carnival Ride Accident

23.17K

Lacey Donohue

09/08/13 05:03PM

Filed to: Accidents

According to reports, 13 children were injured, including two seriously injured, on a swing ride at the Oyster Festival at Veterans Memorial Park in Norwalk, Connecticut this afternoon. Children with minor injuries were treated and released at the scene, but the more seriously injured were transferred to Norwalk, Stamford, and Bridgeport hospitals.

The Norwalk Police Department’s Facebook page describes the accident:

A "swing" ride in the Kids Cove apparently lost power causing the children on the ride to forcefully fall to the ground.

Another source describes the scene in more detail:

The ride suddenly stopped and the riders were still spinning around bumping into other riders.

Rides at the festival were closed after the incident, but Connecticut State Officials have since authorized carnival operator Stewart Amusements to reopen the rides for the rest of the day.

Today was Family Day Sunday at the event.

[Image via WSFB News]

The following replies are approved. To see additional replies that are pending approval, click Show Pending. Warning: These may contain graphic material.

reggiebushlateral Lacey Donohue 09/08/13 05:23PM

Are these rides ever inspected? Who oversees this industry?

cheerful_exgirlfriend reggiebushlateral 09/08/13 05:35PM

Actually that is an excellent question.

Traveling carnival rides are actually inspected more (by outside inspectors) than "fixed" rides like at Busch Gardens may only be looked at when they are installed and thereafter only by the Busch Company workers.

Connecticut does seem ahead of the game compared to other states as far as "fixed" rides

In Connecticut, carnival rides must be inspected by a state-certified structural engineer at the beginning of each season and again by a State Police detective and a local building official each time they are set up in a new location.
Permanent parks like Lake Compounce and Quassy Amusement Park in Middlebury must be inspected prior to the season opening, said Florence Sinow, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety. Spot inspections are conducted, and the state requires park operators to conduct daily checks.

reggiebushlateral cheerful_exgirlfriend 09/08/13 05:38PM

I do wonder with these rides traveling from fair/fest week to week, if they really are being inspected by a detective or official. It's likely a case of lack of manpower to do so.

TiredAndSleepy cheerful_exgirlfriend 09/08/13 05:42PM

This doesn't seem like an inspection issue. It seems more like a design failure. Hopefully the company that makes this ride will be responsible for the injuries, as well as fixing all the instances of this ride.

cheerful_exgirlfriend TiredAndSleepy 09/08/13 05:58PM

Agreed. I was just answering the OP's query re:inspections. I'm kind of interested in the lack of Federal inspection requirements for fixed rides since I have a kid and I like to go on rollercoasters.

FakePlasticTree Lacey Donohue 09/08/13 05:07PM

If you can't trust carnies with your children, who can you trust?

Alexander_Crouton-Skitch FakePlasticTree 09/08/13 05:57PM

dvdoff Alexander_Crouton-Skitch 09/08/13 07:39PM

Michael O'Donoghue's genius was far ahead of it's time.

Rod Strickland Propane Lacey Donohue 09/08/13 05:07PM

Officials also expressed regret over this man being put in charge of the rides.

ItsARampageLana Rod Strickland Propane 09/08/13 06:35PM

MotherFUCKER! That's what I get for showing up late.

killaconservatardformommy Rod Strickland Propane 09/08/13 07:03PM

My first thought as well.

blahblahsucka ItsARampageLana 09/08/13 08:05PM

Goddamn dude. Are you in the middle of a series re-watch or is your Soprano's recall really that good?

ItsARampageLana blahblahsucka 09/08/13 08:06PM

I got HBOGo set up right around the time Gandolfini passed, so I did a rewatch then, so I'm not in the middle per se but it's fresh in my mind.

NoOnesPost Lacey Donohue 09/08/13 09:08PM

Ugh, do not read the Yahoo News comments.

Zabella NoOnesPost 09/08/13 09:33PM

I was curious what you meant, so I took a look.
Apparently the whole state of Connecticut must be punished because some of the residents don't like it when classrooms full of children get shot up.

NoOnesPost Zabella 09/08/13 11:11PM

Oh geez, this was actually on a Jezabel post about teacher dress codes, I don't even want to know what you found.