Ride operator had other incident
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The organizers of the eastern Tennessee fair where three girls fell from a Ferris wheel kept their ride operator despite an incident across the state line that injured five and caused the owners’ son to be jailed.
Private inspectors believe a mechanical failure likely caused the gondola to flip over Monday, sending three girls plummeting 30 to 45 feet to the ground.
A 6-year-old girl, Briley Rae Reynolds, suffered a traumatic brain injury in the fall and her 10-year-old sister, Kayla, broke her arm.
Their mother, Kimmee Reynolds, posted a statement Wednesday on Facebook that said both girls remained hospitalized. She wrote that though Briley cannot breathe on her own, she has seemed to respond to relatives’ voices, and the family is taking it “one minute at a time.”
“Now it’s a waiting game,” she wrote. “They want to give her more time, and as much as I want her alert and dancing and being feisty, I want her to rest and feel better.”
Reynolds confirmed the information posted on Facebook to The Associated Press.
She wrote that Kayla is able to play and paint despite a heavy cast on her arm and fear for her sister. She called her “my optimistic little sunshine.”
A third girl injured has not been identified. The Greeneville Sun reported that the 16-year-old was admitted to the hospital in critical condition but has improved to stable condition.
Several inspectors at the fairgrounds trying to determine how the Ferris wheel malfunctioned, Greeneville Police Detective Capt. Tim Davis said.
Two federal investigators with the Consumer Product Safety Commission are also on scene, confirmed Patty Davis, the agency’s press secretary.
The ride was operated by a Georgia-based company called Family Attractions Amusement, which was involved in another high-profile carnival accident three years ago.
At the North Carolina State Fair in October 2013, five people were injured when an Italian-made ride called the Vortex unexpectedly restarted as they were trying to get off the ride, flinging them through the air and down to the steel deck below. Instigators determined that a safety mechanism had been disabled by ride operators.
The company did not return a message left on the voice mail of the phone number listed on its last inspection report.
Their rides were not inspected when they arrived in Tennessee.
Family Attractions received its permit to operate the Ferris wheel in Tennessee for the next three months based on a June inspection in Indiana, according to state Department of Labor and Workforce Development spokeswoman Jennifer Farrar.
Police and investigators could not estimate Wednesday how long it might take to determine what caused the Ferris wheel to drop the girls.
