Rye Playland - Fatal Accident - 6/29/07

[rfdu39 89]

According to a News report on CBS CH 2 a 20 year old employee was killed when she was thrown from the Mind Scrambler.

[RWC130 594]

Is this the same ride where the kid was killed a while back?

RIP - VERY SAD!

[Guest MRK303]

Is this the same ride where the kid was killed a while back?

RIP - VERY SAD!

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YES, this is the same ride that killed a 7-year-old in May 2004.

[mikeinet 37]

Read some of the comments being posted under the journal news article. (http://nyjournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070630/NEWS02/706300394) - sometimes people mind boggle me. 'SHUTDOWN THIS RIDE NOW!!!!'

... people die everyday. Hundreds of people die a day from cars, should we ban those too?

[Guest MRK303]

She didn’t die because there was something wrong with the ride…she died because she didn’t follow the safety instructions of the ride. Safety warnings are not for show and tell; they are there for a reason!

[x635 4,066]

Regardless, this person DIED. Show some compassion.

If this ride can be made safer, then every effort should be made to remediate it.

We should have the same attitude in the fire service.

Thoughts and prayers are with the affected.

[fsw1970 0]

Regardless, this person DIED. Show some compassion.

If this ride can be made safer, then every effort should be made to remediate it.

We should have the same attitude in the fire service.

Thoughts and prayers are with the affected.

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Yes I'm sorry that she died, but she disregarded safety regulation's. So in my opinion she brought it on herself. If you're stupid enough to do something like that, you need to be prepared for the consequences. And yes I've done my fair share of REALLY stupid things,including on rides at amusements parks. I just got lucky.

What's going to really piss me off, is when the lawyers get ahold of this(I'm sure they aleady have!). They will go after everyone humanly possible, just for the money's sake.

As for maker the ride's safer, they pretty much are already, as long as you follow the rules. I think they've actually made rides TOO safe these days, and really taken too much of the thrill out of them. I go on these things for the adrenaline rush,personally.

[x635 4,066]

This is still a developing story, and I'm sure more details will come out. Everything right now is speculation, but I hope there is something that could be made safer so this doesn't happen again.

As well, I know their are members of this forum that were there.

Employees and eyewitnesses there tell Eyewitness News she was trying to help a little girl who was putting herself in danger.

The young woman, in her 20s, was reportedly a ride manager at the Mind Scrambler. Workers say she was telling a young passenger on the ride to sit down at the time of the accident.

"A little girl was standing up or sitting up on the ride. One of the employees came to tell her to sit down and the employee got hit by the ride," one of Rye Playland employees, Jeffrey Almodovar, said. "That is what we heard."

The Mind Scrambler spins riders around in dark with flashing lights.

[mikeinet 37]

Oh in no doubt do I wish she rests in peace and it's horrible that this happened... I'm just aggrivated by everyone b*t*hing and moaning that the ride (and/or park) should be shutdown... horrible things happen everyday, that's all i'm saying

[Guest partyrock]

The ride is safe enough. If you follow the directions the ride has been operated for years with other similar rides throughout the country completely safely. There's no need to change it. Cars could be perfectly safe if they were all governed at 10 mph. Why not advocate that. We need to stop protecting stupid.

[x635 4,066]

Well, seems the story is a little different then the speculation that was out there.

PLAYLAND DEATH: Victim was ride operator taking a break

By CANDICE FERRETTE

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: June 30, 2007)

RYE - A woman killed last night at Playland Amusement Park was a park employee taking a break from her duties operating the ride on which she was killed, Westchester County officials said this morn ing.

Gabriela Garin of White Plains, 21, had worked at the county-owned park since she was 14, oficials said, and was working at the Mind Scrambler ride when a 7-year-old girl was killed on it in 2004.

Garin, who had been running the ride last night, switched duties with the ticket taker for one cycle, officials said, and climbed aboard with other patrons for a ride about 9:30 p.m. She was sitting in a manner in which the operator could not see that she was not securely in her seat, they said, and was thrown from her car some 20 seconds into the ride.

County officials said the Mind Scrambler passed its safety inspection at the beginning of the season, but would be closed down for the rest of the summer. Two other rides owned by the same company that owns the Scrambler will also be closed this year.

Garin's family was seeking to raise money to send her body back to her native Mexico for burial.

Check LoHud for updates and read more on this story tomorrow in The Journal News.

[Guest partyrock]

The speculation was that she didn't follow the safety rules resulting in her being thrown from the ride. The article states "She was sitting in a manner in which the operator could not see that she was not securely in her seat". That to me means the ride is safe and she's at fault.

[Oswegowind 17]

I just caught the news on Ch 7 here in NY. Apparently there was a missed communication between the ride operator and the ride attendant. I watched the news 12 footage of the press conference in which our illustrious county exec sts that she was not following rules and that she was sitting reverse on the ride when she was thrown to her death, pretty much blaming her for what happenned! Now the investigation appears to have reared a completely different story. Why, would our county exec go on television proclaiming answers before the experts at the County Police ID Unit had completed their investigation. Now it appears that another operator is somewhat to blame or more that this is just a tragic accident resulting from miscommunication!!!!!!! Very sad indeed! I want to see Andy make a public apology to this family for his idiocy of going on record prior to having all of the facts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My thoughts and prayers are with the Garin Family and this young lady's 7 year old child!

[z28skunk 28]

I graduated high school with her in 2004. Taken too young.

RIP

[Guest mediconpatrol]

Initial reports stated that the victim was placing people on the ride and securing them. A new technician came on board to run the ride and some of the riders already placed started yelling for him to begin the ride. He did not see the victime when she had bent inside one of the cars to assist a younger rider.

It does not surprise me that Rye Playland would do everything in their power to show her a fault. Insurance premiums are high enough already.

It is a shame that someone has to die for further action to take place. Rye Playland should be more trying to figure out how to make sure this type of mistake doesnt happen again instead of placing blame.

[AFS1970 504]

Why shut down the ride and two other uninvolved rides for the rest of the summer? No matter who is at fault all the accounts seem to place her on the ride in an unsecured manner. Sounds like a tragic accident but one that the ride itself had little to do with. By all means shut down the one involved ride while the investigation is going on, hey even do a second safet inspection just as a precaution, but wouldn't keeping ride open be of more value to an ammusement park than closing them? Why even think about closing two other rides? Sounds like a whole lot of overreaction to me.

Edited July 2, 2007 by BFD182

[GM911 0]

My thoughts and prayers are with the Garin Family and this young lady's 7 year old child!

This just proves the most obvious fact out there.... what the media says happened and what really happened are often two completely totally different stories. For example, the day after this incident happened, the front page of the Journal News brought attention to the stories, yet the huge bold headline had the woman's age wrong. As for the 7 year old child that Oswegowind writes about, one paper says the kid was 1, another says 2 years old. And as for the initial story that the victim was trying to save a 6 year old child..... where the hell did that one come from?

The truth is, we cannot trust the media reporting on high profile cases such as this. Their information is many times incorrect and often times contradict themselves. A death of any age is a horrible tragedy, but for this to happen to such a young woman is deeply saddening. That said, this woman had no regard for the rules. A ride manager herself, she should have known better. This incident is NOT the fault of Playland; it is the fault of people thinking that they are invincible. I am disappointed when I read the comments that say "Playland should be shutdown", or "You can't trust the rides at Playland". All the deaths have been stupid accidents that were (I hate to say this) the victim's faults. A child wriggling out from under her seatbelt; another child standing up and stepping off of a ride before it was over, and a drunk man, 4 times the legal limit, swimming in a no-swim zone.

My deepest sympathy goes out to the family and friends of the victim, and once the official report comes out and the investigation is complete (which I'm sure it will say was the fault of the victim), I hope we all can move on and learn something from this incident. Not about making rides "safer", but about teaching our kids and loved ones to use their brains and think before they act. And I'm sure we all could use the same advice as well!!

[gpdexplorer 46]

The Mind Scrambler, and some of the other rides, such as the Catch-a-Wave, Go Karts, and the Power Surge are not owned by the county. As to what happened, just wait for the investigation to be completed before we speculate on what happened. There are several different stories as to what happened, with new versions popping up everyday. Like people have said, don't belileve everything you hear or see in the media.