Mother, daughter find Kennywood ride less than amusing

Monday, July 07, 2003

By Linda Wilson Fuoco, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

A 10-year-old girl's ride on the Pitt Fall at Kennywood Park was scarier than it was ever meant to be.

Chelsey D'Ambrosio of Monroeville wasn't hurt, but she was badly frightened, and her mother is campaigning to make sure nothing like what happened to Chelsey ever happens to another person.

Michelle D'Ambrosio accompanied her daughter and two other 10-year-old girls on the thrill ride on June 24. All of the riders had been strapped into their seats when Chelsey decided she didn't want to ride.

"The attendant wouldn't let her get off, though we were still on the ground," D'Ambrosio said. "She panicked and unhooked a safety belt. I was screaming at the ride attendant to please stop the ride because my daughter is unbuckled."

Chelsey, like all the other riders, was still restrained by a harness that went over her shoulders, but she had unbuckled a strap that came up between her legs and then connected with the shoulder harness.

The cars on the Pitt Fall climb straight up to a height 251 feet above the ground. The ride then plummets to the ground, giving riders a momentary sensation of weightlessness.

D'Ambrosio said she and her daughter thought that when cars on the ride dropped, Chelsey's shoulder harness would fly up and the girl would fall off the ride.

"My daughter was completely in shock and saying, 'Mum, I'm going to die'." D'Ambrosio said.

Kennywood officials say the ride operator followed all park procedures and the child was never in any danger.

"Safety is always our concern. That's what keeps us in business," said Kennywood spokesman Mary Lou Rosemeyer. "The ride operators did exactly what they were supposed to do."

The strap unbuckled by Chelsey wasn't even a part of the Pitt Fall's restraints the first year the ride was in the park, Rosemeyer said. It was added as a backup to the safety harness.

"We didn't know that," D'Ambrosio said yesterday in a telephone interview. If the ride attendant had told them that, she and her daughter would not have been so frightened, D'Ambrosio said.

Rosemeyer also said the ride attendants told supervisors that the ride had already started when the mother said her daughter wanted to get off. The mother says the ride was still on the ground. Park policy is not to stop rides unless there is a health or safety problem.

Ride attendants also said the child did not appear to be upset at the start of the ride or at the end of the ride. They said the mother did seem to be frightened and upset.

"To stop a ride after it is engaged can create more panic," Rosemeyer said. "We feel very bad about this. We don't want anyone to be scared. We offered them a chance to come back as our guest."

D'Ambrosio agrees that the family was offered a ride-for-free day at Kennwood, but she said, "I don't want tickets. I don't want a hot dog. I just don't want this to happen to anyone.

"For the next couple of days my kid was attached to me like a Siamese twin. She was scared. She never wants to go back."

Quelle: post-gazette.com

Ich hätte mich anstelle des Mädchens gefreut

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