Ride on which boy died closed for rest of season

Police said that son of Kansas lawmaker Scott Schwab sustained a fatal neck injury, though authorities and the park haven’t said specifically how that happened. Alabama, Mississippi, Nevada, South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah do not regulate amusement parks on a state level.

Kansas City police are now investigating Caleb’s death as a criminal matter.

Police say Caleb Schwab was one of three passengers riding in a boat Sunday on the Verruckt waterslide at Schlitterbahn Waterpark.

Winter Prosapio, a spokeswoman for Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts, said “a limited portion” of the park will reopen for guests at noon (1 p.m. ET) Wednesday. The details of who does the inspections have not been released.

The Kansas Department of Labor said it has requested documents from the water park to review whether safety requirements were met prior to Caleb Schwab’s death while riding the 168-foot-tall Verrückt water slide. A day earlier, she told reporters that Caleb had been at the park with family members, adding “We honestly don’t know what’s happened”.

Jeff Henry, co-owner of Schlitterbahn, described the ride as “safe dangerous” in an interview with USA Today in 2014. Verruckt riders go down the slide in multi-person rafts and have to be at least 137cm tall, according to the park’s website.

An investigation is underway at a Kansas water park after a boy died on the world’s tallest water slide.

When the ride opened in 2014, it required riders to be at least 14 years old but that stipulation was later removed.

One theory is that the little boy and the two women had a combined weight that was less than 400 pounds, which is the weight needed to keep the raft on the slide. Apparently the boy’s neck snapped as he fell of the raft and he died at the spot.

Another witness, Esteban Castaneda, told ABC 7 that when the raft Schwab had been riding in reached the bottom of the slide, lifeguards were attempting to push crowds back, but Castaneda noticed someone in the water who looked to be decapitated.

There’s also anecdotal evidence of problems with the ride’s safety equipment. She had told him the Velcro on her safety belt had come undone towards the end of the ride. The Nebraska man said he “just held on”, and a video shot by his wife shows the strap loose at the ride’s end.

The Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission had a short meeting Monday to discuss whether state campaign finance laws apply to the effort.

He says he saw the family Sunday morning at church before they left for Schlitterbahn.