Ferris wheel that dropped girls in Tennessee had worn-out rivets

The mother of two of the three girls injured when a Ferris wheel gondola flipped over at a Tennessee county fair said her daughters remain hospitalized two days after the accident.

Police are citing a mechanical failure in the accident that dumped three children from a Ferris wheel at Tennessee’s Greene County Fair. White’s report says a bottom aluminum cover plate underneath the basket in which the three girls were riding came loose because of worn rivets. The Greeneville Sun reported that the 16-year-old was admitted to the hospital in critical condition but has improved to stable condition.

Workers on Thursday were dismantling the rides, but operator Family Attractions Amusement has been ordered to keep the Ferris wheel standing until the state gave permission to take it down.

Kimmee Reynolds posted a statement on Facebook that said her youngest girl, 6-year-old Briley Jae, has a concussion, bleeding on her brain and remains on a ventilator.

Her mom told News Channel 11 “she is now off the vent and breathing on her own”. “With her tiny, scratchy and quiet voice she says “Why am I here?’ I responded by telling her she is sick and just needs to get better”.

Family Amusements Attraction was scheduled to operate the rides in Greene County through Saturday then tear the rides down and transport them about 150 miles west to Jamestown for the Fentress County Fair on Sunday.

“We all want to know why this bad accident happened”, she said, “and what we can do to prevent it from happening again”. Investigators determined that a safety mechanism had been disabled by ride operators including the son of company owners Dominic and Ruby Macaroni.

Meanwhile, WBIR-TV reports (http://on.wbir.com/2aNlbSH) that organizers at the Fentress County Agricultural Fair about 120 miles west of Greeneville are hoping Family Attractions will be cleared to run rides there next week. He says Kansas doesn’t have a state amusement park inspection program and Tennessee has third party inspections.

“I was walking back in the room and she was asking for me”, she writes.