KANSAS CITY, Kan., Nov. 23 (UPI) — The Kansas City water slide called Verrückt, German for insane, will be torn down months after a boy died while riding it, the water park announced Tuesday.
Although police have not finished their investigation determining if a crime was committed, Schlitterbahn, which owns Schlitterbahn Kansas City, said they will tear down the ride and replace it with something else because “it is the only proper course of action.”
The slide can’t be torn down until police finish investigating 10-year-old Caleb Schwab’s death or lawsuits have finished winding their way through the courts, Michael Rader, a lawyer for the Schwab family, told WDAF-TV.
In August, Caleb Schwab got on the Verrückt, boarding a raft with two women he’d been matched with for the ride.
The slide, which is billed as the tallest in the world, includes several steep drops while riders are strapped into the raft. Exactly what happened to Schwab’s raft is unclear, but he was found in a pool at the bottom of the ride, having come out of the raft. Schwab died of a significant neck injury, while one of the women in the raft with him broke her jaw and the other broke a bone in her face.
Attendees at the park have reported having problems with straps coming loose, as well as other occurrences, including one mother and daughter who said workers at the end of the ride were concerned when their raft flew into the air as they were descending.
Schlitterbahn said in the statement they’d never experienced an event that led to a death on a ride, noting many of the company’s employees, and their children and grandchildren, had been on the ride.
“Once the investigation is concluded and we are given permission by the court, Verrückt will be decommissioned — closed permanently and the slide removed from the tower. In our opinion, it is the only proper course of action following this tragedy,” Schlitterbahn said. “We will, at some point in the future, announce what will be built in its place.”
