Girl knocked unconscious on Tornado, sent to hospital

[[jonrev]]

My guess is she wasnt holding on to the tube, she hit her head on the "roof" of the drop (since the drop part is enclosed), it busted her head open and knocked her out.

[LAFFfan4lyfe]

it sucks that the story was over exaggerated. In journalism though, whatever details you have, true or false, if it makes a good story you might want to overexaggerate. This is the nasty side of the media. Using those fake details will help them try to get the ride shut down even more. I think this is just stupid.

[Cs6153]

There is also an article in the daily Southtown newspaper. I do not understand exactly what happened but it sounded like the raft flipped and the kids fell out and got hurt inside the funnel???

[scbb11Sketch]

They said that the raft travelled all the way to the top of the funnel. Isn't that completely impossible? You would need four huge guys to do something even close to that, and they said it was only the girl and her brother, both which didn't weigh more than 100 pounds. This story has been covered so poorly. Everytime a new ride is built, there's always someone there to try and ruin it for everyone else.

[viperchick85]

Yeah, I'm sure the little girl gashed her head on purpose. You know, to make the new ride look bad.

[Timmy179]

Also, the water flows out from aroud 3/4 of the way up.... deeming that claim impossible



Photo per director_guy

[SFaddiction84]

did the artical say anything about if the other rider was ok?

how could the raft possibly get that high if there was only 2 people

[Becky O 33]

It couldn't.

[Cryptkeeper]

Here's an article from the Herald that goes a little more in depth into the situation.

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A turn for the worse
Lockport trip to Six Flags ends at the hospital

By Andrea Hein
STAFF WRITER

LOCKPORT — Kids usually leave Six Flags Great America in Gurnee with a tired smile and a souvenir.

Ten-year-old Keely Vercellotti left the park Wednesday with a nearly 3-inch gash in her head and no memory of the water ride that sent her to the hospital.

"She's not my normal kid," said Sharon Vercellotti, speaking on Friday about the accident's effect on her daughter.

What is definitely known is that Keely suffered some sort of injury on the Tornado, the park's newest water ride. Park officials closed the ride for a day and a half to make sure it was operating properly before reopening it Friday.

But the severity of Keely's injury, how it occurred, who is responsible and whether Keely is the first or the 15th person injured on the ride — well — that depends on with whom you talk.


On Wednesday afternoon, Keely was on a field trip with students from Taft School in Lockport when she and her friend Dylan Lovelace boarded the raft to ride the Tornado.

Keely said she does not remember what happened next.

Dylan, however, does.

Inside the funnel, the pair went to the right, the left and then around the top and fell out, the 11-year-old said, describing the accident.

Normally riders are sent "whirling and spinning back and forth, from side to side into a 60-foot giant funnel," according the park's Web site.

There are no restraints on the slide.

After falling, the kids traveled through the rest of the ride and landed in the catch pool below.

Blood was pouring from a wound on Keely's face and onto Dylan who landed below her, said Lisa Lovelace, Dylan's mom, who was chaperoning the trip.

"She had blood dripping down her face," Dylan said. "I was just so scared."

The chaperones said life guards and first aid staff rushed to help Keely.

An ambulance was called and so were Keely's parents.

"Cliche as it is, it's a mother's worst nightmare," Vercellotti said of the phone call she got from a teacher telling her that Keely was hurt but the severity of the injuries was unknown.

When she joined her daughter at Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Vercellotti learned her daughter had a concussion, short-term memory loss and cut sutured by a plastic surgeon.

Keely now has more than 20 stitches and a special skin glue keeping the wound closed.

The hospital kept Keely overnight for observation, said Vercellotti who also provided documentation regarding her daughter's injuries.

But what infuriated Vercellotti her the most was that hospital staff allegedly told her that as many as 14 other children have been injured on the same ride.

Lovelace and teacher Kelly Miller said they also heard hospital employees, namely a nurse and doctor, say the same thing and that paramedics put the number of injured kids at 10.

"I'm furious," Vercellotti said after learning the ride was operational once again.

A Six Flags Great America spokesman said safety is a top priority.

"When you are in the business of fun, you have to have a safe product," said Jim Taylor, public relations manager.

After Keely's accident, the park closed the ride, called the manufacturer and tested it.

They concluded that the ride was and is operating properly, Taylor said.

"We could not find any reason why what happened, happened," Taylor said.

Furthermore, there has only been one injury on the ride, he said.

Taylor said Great America's records show that the child involved in the accident Wednesday was treated for minor cuts and as a precaution was sent to the hospital.

"It was really kind of a minor thing," Taylor said.

The word "minor" sent Vercellotti through the roof when she heard it.

"Wow, wow, unbelievable," was all the mother could say.

A Condell Medical Center official said no one on their staff told the family about alleged problems with the Tornado, saying, but not clarifying, that someone else in the emergency room made the remark.

The hospital also doesn't have any other information about accidents related to the Tornado, said Susan Thompson, the center's director of public relations and marketing.

Lovelace, Miller and Vercellotti stand by what they heard.

Vercellotti said she contacted the media because she does not want another child to be hurt. As of Friday, she had not hired an attorney but said the family was considering legal action.

"I'm just very dismayed by it all," Vercellotti said. "I want Great America to be responsible for safety."

[Cs6153]

Thing is though if the kids did not hold on , its not the parks fault. They were told the instructions, and are expected to follow them. Its also common sense.

[[jonrev]]

This is just like the Cajun Cliffhanger incident. Someone gets hurt, the family sues , ride's gone by next season (or in this case, wants it removed).

I doubt SFGAm would even consider removing a BRAND NEW ride.

[zjohn1988]

CC was different though.

[ihauntu2]

The whole story sounds really fishy. I think the family is trying to pull some sort of scam related to a lawsuit. They are clearly over exaggerating the number of injuries, and the position of the raft when the accident occured.

Sorry but if me and 2 friends at a combined weight of near 700lbs can't reach the water pipes, no way in hell did a pair of kids smoothly sail over the water pipes, reach the top and flip.

More than likely the kid was not holding on. On the first pass up the side, she may have been knocked out of the raft. This would only occur if she was at the upper edge of the raft The same thing happens on larger family raft rides, usually knocking someone into the center if they aren't holding on.

The gash could be caused by blunt force. It doesn't need a sharp object, but it does take one heck of a whack. The immediate swelling lacerates the skin, and you get one nasty concussion.

A shot that hard can cause bouts of amnesia, problems with short term memory, and some lawsuit hounds believe it can cause brain damage.

I say if she wasn't smart enough to hang on, then obviously no harm no foul. Obviously there was mental impairment to begin with.

[ihauntu2]

Thank you IE6 - Mods delete this one.

[Director_Guy]

^Very well put.

[Sedir]

Wow those articles are pretty different. The first says that the friend didn't know what happened. And the second one said that he did. Odd.

[sixflagsgirl2006]

All three of the articles I have read are very different. Someone is lying and I think we all know who it is. Especially since six flags has said the same thing all three times and the hospital agrees that no one told them anything about the Tornado and they have no accidents reported on file. So no matter what word these two pairs of parents stick to it is all heresay. I don't think they can get anywhere with this story. Which is very good because I like the tornado

[sixflagsgirl2006]

sorry bout the triple post there somthing weird going on when i try to submit.

[sixflagsgirl2006]

sorry again

[Geno21K]

I have to wonder whether or not these two were screwing around (i.e. not holding on or riding improperly in some other fashion). The boy seems to have changed his story from one article to the next. Could it be that he doesn't want to admit that he played a role in what happened? I know that I wouldn't be too keen on fessing up to helping to cause an incident that left a friend knocked out and with stitches.

It also sounds strange that these people are trying to claim that medical staff made comments about other injuries. I seriously doubt that would happen. Making said references in front of random people could land the doctors in some seriously hot water.

Anyhow, the unfortunate fact is that two kids got hurt, one somewhat seriously. What's more unfortunate is that nobody seems to know how or why it happened, which does not rule out the notion that it could happen again. There is also the possibility, or maybe it's better to say the probability, that SFGA, while potentially at no fault, will end up paying for this.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[[jonrev]]

Maybe the park should set up a video camera on the Tornado funnel so they can see what happens IF something like this happens again.

[RagingBullLover1543]

^That's a good idea.

[SFaddiction84]

I agree, maybe they should place 2 cameres, one from each side, and maybe one waterproof one hanging from the top of the funnel near the bottom of the funnel (were no raft would be near it) so they can have some kinda video recording going on

[viperchick85]

Wow.

[Cryptkeeper]

Yeah, that's right, let's have more cameras watching our every move ..as if there aren't enough cameras in the world that do that already. While we're at it, let us put cameras on every waterslide just *in case* there is an accident on them too. Why just do it to Tornado? It's insanity, I tell you!

A bit off the topic (just a bit!), the roller coaster that has the most cameras on it (that I have ever seen) is...


....




....



ok time is up.

The answer is Raven at Holiday World. As of last year, it had a total of 9 cameras on it watching riders every movement. I'm not sure if all 9 cameras are working this year, however. But last year, Raven was the #1 - camera coaster (that I ever had a chance to see, at least).