KS - Caleb Schwab, 10, dies on 17-story Schlitterbahn waterpark slide, Aug 2016

Our oldest son is in the Air Force and took us all to the original water park down there when we were visiting him, but now? I don't think I 'd even go on any of their rides, anywhere again.
 
KCK police have already announced this is a civil matter, no criminal investigation is being done and there will be no police report on the incident.

Editing to add they announced that less than 24 hours after the incident.

Schlitterbahn money apparently works fast in Wyandotte County.

I'm quoting myself to bring this forward. Apparently that Schlitterbahn money worked fast but didn't last!

I am *so* freaking glad these people have been charged. They absolutely deserve to face judgement for their choice to put money over safety.

When Schlitterbahn first opened in this area they had a huge design plan including shopping and lodging - literally planning tree houses you could stay in at the water park and there would be hatches you could open in your house to drop right into a lazy river that would deliver you to any attraction at the park you wanted to visit. It sounded amazing!

The few times we visited were so much fun, but when they built this ride I had a bad feeling from the start. Then the sandbags were flying off on test runs and landing in the PARKING LOT! They re-designed it at that point but I still thought it was an accident waiting to happen. I haven't been there since before the ride went up (or maybe it was the same summer but the ride hadn't been open long due to the re-design) and I don't think I'll ever be able to give any money to Schlitterbahn ever again.
 
“Federal authorities in Dallas have arrested the designer of a Kansas water park slide that decapitated a 10-year-old boy.

John Timothy Schooley was arrested by U.S. Marshals Monday night at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, after arriving back in the country from China.

The 72-year-old will be held in Dallas pending his arraignment and extradition to Kansas City, Kansas on charges that include second-degree murder.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...sas-water-slide-killed-boy.html#ixzz5Bco9R4nd
 
I just hope they are able to get a FAIR TRIAL like everybody is entitled to,

The trial should not take place in Kansas where everybody already has them tared and feathered before it even begins,
 
I just hope they are able to get a FAIR TRIAL like everybody is entitled to,

The trial should not take place in Kansas where everybody already has them tared and feathered before it even begins,

I want them punished to the max for poor Caleb and everyone injured on the monstrosity but yes I agree they do deserve a fair trial. I think moving it is a good idea so they don’t get off on appeal.
 
I want them punished to the max for poor Caleb and everyone injured on the monstrosity

And that would be exactly my point, thanks for proving it for me,

you already have them pegged as guilty without knowing all the facts and details, you are only basing your opinion on the nonsense that the media spews out of their rear ends,

thank God you are not on the jury
 
And that would be exactly my point, thanks for proving it for me,

you already have them pegged as guilty without knowing all the facts and details, you are only basing your opinion on the nonsense that the media spews out of their rear ends,

thank God you are not on the jury

Respectfully I made up my mind they were guilty when they deliberately failed to take a record of injuries on the ride and decided to disregard the injured who included their own employees and kept the ride open for money. This information is from interviews of employees who worked there. They knew the ride was dangerous but couldn’t care less who got hurt out of greed.

Why would they do this if they were innocent?
 
I made up my mind on August 11, 2016.
Apologies for quoting myself, but I found more on Jeff Henry's engineering training, or lack thereof...

Henry never finished high school and never formally learned to draw. All his knowledge came from his work along the river.

http://grantland.com/features/the-wet-stuff-verruckt-waterslide-schlitterbahn/

Long, but interesting article on the origins of the water park .

And more..

Incentive packages like the one offered by Corpus help keep the company’s costs down, as does the fact that all the design work is done in-house by Gary’s younger brother, Jeff, a self-taught savant of water park design who learned the business as a teenager by building rides with his father.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/lucrative-when-wet/

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
And a bit more from the Smithsonian article...

BBM

So how does one go about building the world's tallest water slide—and more importantly, ensuring it's safe? Amazingly, it's little more than trial and error.


Henry has over a dozen waterpark-related patents to his name, like the Master Blaster, an uphill water coaster technology that uses water canons to propel riders up slopes. Schooley is a designer with a degree in biology and a background building yachts, and when Henry asked him for help designing the Master Blaster, Schooley found moving from yachts to water slides an easy transition. But when Henry decided to build the world's tallest water slide, the pair realized their ride might have more in common with roller coasters than with the traditional water park slide.


Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/trave...est-waterslide-180952069/#LlXfHp1rsRe5Ryll.99


These yahoos were completely unqualified and had no business building something like this.

Real engineers do not design through trial and error.

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So, neither of the owners/builders/designers had any formal training in engineering.

"We pretty much built the ride in house, from start to finish, with some outside consulting from safety experts and engineers," Schooley says of the Kansas City, Kansas attraction. "A project like this is really a group effort."

Snip

Schooley's models could predict some of the friction and G-forces that would act on a rider plummeting down the Verrückt, but drawing precise conclusions from these calculations is tricky because of the as-of-yet unmentioned major component: water.

"What’s really difficult on these slides is that we can know something about friction with the size of the raft and how much weight will be in it, but when you start adding water into the equation, there’s actually no way to really know what’s going to happen in terms of hydraulic friction forces on it other than testing it," he explains.


Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/trave...est-waterslide-180952069/#LlXfHp1rsRe5Ryll.99

BBM

Ummm... no, I'm pretty sure there are hydraulics engineers who actually know how to compute the effects of water and adjust the design accordingly, before it's built.

Because, you know, they actually studied hydraulics engineering...


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Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
This is going to come back to haunt them in court.
Yeah, they were giving a lot of interviews... practically bragging about their lack of credentials and how they were self taught.

The high school dropout bit won't go over well with a jury.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
“The designer of a water slide which decapitated a 10-year-old boy in 2016 appeared in court on Monday to plead not guilty to his murder.

Designer John Schooley, 70, is one of three people charged over the 2016 death of Caleb Schwab.

He designed the Veruckt slide at Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, Kansas, on which Caleb, the son of Congressman Scott Schwab, died while riding with his family.

Schooley was arrested last week after arriving back in the US from China where he had been conducting business.

He was extradited to Kansas from Texas and now remains in jail on a $500,000 bond.”

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rt-plead-not-guilty-murder.html#ixzz5CIkkwp1Y
 
“The designer of a water slide which decapitated a 10-year-old boy in 2016 appeared in court on Monday to plead not guilty to his murder.

Designer John Schooley, 70, is one of three people charged over the 2016 death of Caleb Schwab.

He designed the Veruckt slide at Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, Kansas, on which Caleb, the son of Congressman Scott Schwab, died while riding with his family.

Schooley was arrested last week after arriving back in the US from China where he had been conducting business.

He was extradited to Kansas from Texas and now remains in jail on a $500,000 bond.”

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rt-plead-not-guilty-murder.html#ixzz5CIkkwp1Y

I'm surprised he returned.
 
The Judge dropped charges against Schlitterbahn Waterpark of Kansas City, Kan., which was named as a defendant in a March grand jury indictment that accused the corporation and one of its employees of involuntary manslaughter and other charges. The Schlitterbahn park in KCK comprises two business entities: SVV 1, which owns the land on which the park was built, and KC Waterpark Management, which operates the water park. During the hearing, the Judge said he would go back to the grand jury to obtain an indictment against the proper corporate defendant. A new indictment is expected in about three weeks.

In March, a Wyandotte County grand jury led by the Kansas attorney general charged Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry, Verruckt designer John Schooley and general contractor Henry & Sons Construction with second-degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated child endangerment in connection to Schwab's death and injuries suffered by other riders. Tyler Miles, formerly the director of operations for Schlitterbahn in KCK, faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated battery, aggravated child endangerment and interfering with law enforcement. Miles is accused of covering up incidents of rider injuries that occurred prior to Schwab's death.

Miles and Schooley were present during the hearing. Both men waived their right to a speedy trial, which means that the previously scheduled trial date of Sept. 10 won't happen.

Henry was not there. He's expected to come to Kansas City for a hearing next week. The Kansas attorney general has asked that Henry's bond be increased from $500,000 to $750,000 after learning that a woman called 911 to report a threat that Henry allegedly made when he returned to New Braunfels, Texas, after making his first court appearance in KCK.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/article209828079.html
 
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.kansascity.com/news/local/article211897439.html

A Kansas Department of Labor audit released earlier this week identified problems ranging from missing paperwork to parts in need of replacement on 11 rides at Schlitterbahn. The company called the audit "malicious" and pushed back on several of its claims. But Schlitterbahn still chose to not open those attractions until it and the Wyandotte County District Attorney can agree that they are in compliance.

They should shut their parks down indefinitely as they are clearly unsafe and not being run properly. The public should boycott them as they clearly have a total disregard for public safety and are only interested in revenue.
 
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.kansascity.com/news/local/article211897439.html

A Kansas Department of Labor audit released earlier this week identified problems ranging from missing paperwork to parts in need of replacement on 11 rides at Schlitterbahn. The company called the audit "malicious" and pushed back on several of its claims. But Schlitterbahn still chose to not open those attractions until it and the Wyandotte County District Attorney can agree that they are in compliance.

Just wanted to point this out from the article:

“The attractions that visitors could use Friday were Torrent, Torrent Beach, Torrent Cove, Kinderhaven, the Pirate Ship and Henry’s Hideout, according to a statement from Schlitterbahn.”

Torrent Beach and Torrent Cove are just seating areas. Kinderhaven and the Pirate Ship are very shallow areas for the little kids, and Henry’s Hideout is basically an adults only area with a swim up bar.

There is more to do at almost any local city’s swimming pool/aquatic center than at Schlitterbahn right now, and for WAY less money.

Schlitterbahn calls it a malicious audit. Really shows their true colors, doesn’t it? If they cared AT ALL about safety, the first thing they should have done after Caleb died was hire independent inspectors for all their rides and attractions to ensure *everything* was as safe as possible, and continued having monthly inspections during their open season and an annual inspection prior to the park’s season opening each year.
 
Wow, fascinating that there is a thread for little Caleb's tragic story.
Without giving away too much, I am close by to Schlitterbahn KC and have been several times before and once after his death. We only went because we had half-price tickets and the park was only open for law enforcement/firefighters/EMTs and their families.
We went three days afterwards, and it was... creepy. There were guards at the line for Verrückt, and nobody could even go close. Nobody dared to ask any questions to anyone. The whole park staff had a really grief-stricken look on their face and I remember that it was eerily quiet. But of course it could've been because there was such a limited audience.
When Verrückt opened in 2014, I said I'd never go on it after they had to basically start it over after their test dummies kept flying off. It never should have been given clearance to open.
I also said it would just be a matter of time before someone died on that ride. I just never expected it to be a ten-year-old boy.

Now whenever I have to drive past it on 435, I just get really sad. That tower doesn't light up at night anymore, there seems to just be a sadness around that place and on the street it's on.
The park is absolutely responsible for his death and they should've been listening to complaints from others who went down the slide before him.
 

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