Six Flags Case Shaping Up

Depositions have evidently begun in the case against Six Flags for the injuries caused on its Superman: Tower of Power ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom (in which a girl’s feet were severed).  The factual theory of defect appears to be shaping up:

An amusement park ride where a girl’s legs were severed last summer was not designed to stop automatically in case a cable broke, the park’s maintenance chief said in a deposition.
John Schmidt, ride maintenance manager for Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, said the Superman Tower of Power should have been designed differently.

“Do you think that this ride ought to shut down when a cable breaks?” attorney Larry Franklin asked Schmidt in the Nov. 30 deposition.

“Yes,” Schmidt answered.

The ride — manufactured by Intamin — is fairly common, and I doubt any of them have such a feature.  (I actually doubt that similar rides do either.)

–BC