Posted on 07/26/2015 3:24:50 PM PDT by markomalley
A swing ride at Beech Bend Amusement Park toppled over Saturday evening resulting in injuries to multiple people, none of whom is critical.
The Warren County Sheriff's Office was dispatched to the park at 6:18 p.m. along with The Medical Center Emergency Medical Services ambulances to evaluate the injured.
Eight people were taken by ambulance to the ER at The Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Glenda Chu said. The emergency room Saturday was preparing to receive up to 10 more patients who were expected to arrive in private vehicles.
"We responded with EMS, fire and emergency management to Beech Bend Park for the swing ride ... ," sheriff's office spokesman Stephen Harmon said.
Deputy Lydell Hopkins said the ride, called the Jitterbug, "turned over."
Warren County Rescue Department Interim Chief Vince Willingham was enjoying a day at the amusement park with his wife and 3-year-old child when the incident occurred.
"I heard a bunch of crashing," Willingham said. "I didn't see anything until it had stopped.
"The whole swing was toppled on its side," he said. "When I got there, there were still three people in their seats that couldn't get out.
"It just looked like it had fallen on its side," Willingham said.
By the time he got to the ride, several park employees and lifeguards were helping the injured, he said.
Willingham and several others worked to free the trapped riders from their seats. The freed all appeared to Willingham to have contusions, but no severe injuries.
"The people on the ride were shaken up," Willingham said. "Several of them had family members who were upset because they didn't know how bad the injuries were.
"Everybody was alert and responsive," Willingham said about the people injured.
The sheriff's office provided crowd control so emergency medical providers could get to the injured.
"For as many people as there were on the scene, it was pretty well controlled," Willingham said.
The sheriff's office is not responsible for investigating the incident, Hopkins said. A park employee told him the state agency that oversees amusement park rides was notified.
The Kentucky Department of Agriculture Division of Regulation and Inspection is responsible for the inspection of amusement park rides to ensure the safety of the equipment, according to the department's website. No one with that office could be reached Saturday night.
A park employee said a supervisor would call the Daily News sometime Saturday night.
This is why I’m reluctant to let my kids on these types of rides. I showed them this picture in hopes they now understand.
I went to Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green for four years and never set foot at Beach Bend. I was pretty adventurous otherwise but just never made it to that piece of the Redneck Riviera.
My mind is in the gutter - I read the headline as “topless”
Flying Swings...the one ride my father forbid me over 50 years ago to ever ride. He said he saw one of the swing chains break years before that and throw a lady about 100 feet to her death.
I took his advice and never tried it.
Literally whipped into the ground.
Damn.
I tried the swings. Hated it. I had this fear that the swing would break.
I won’t go near them either.
It’s too easy for one guy to forget to set one last thing right, and then...
Surprisingly, for all the rides out there, this doesn’t happen as often as you would think.
Self medicating this evening?
For the big parks, there are nearly daily inspections of the rides, not to mention a fair amount of engineering before they are even built.
But I don’t know the amount of engineering or inspection that goes on for the smaller parks and traveling carny rides.
I also saw ‘Topless’, and was surprised. I went to college in Columbus, Ohio, a thousand years ago. When taking the Greyhound Bus there from Michigan, there was not a whole lot going on in the surrounding towns, like Tiffin, Findley or Bowling Green. A Topless Beach (i know, dyslexia) would have been talked about.
Must’ve put all the fat kids on one side.
Not yet, why? Want to contribute?
I agree. That’s my take also.
Heh - we traveled some of the same territory. Defiance (on the Ohio side) and I bet we know many of the Michigan and maybe Indiana towns (depending on your bus route).
While en route to Ohio from Michigan, my family and I would pass by a big restaurant, one of a chain, called Stuckey’s Restaurtant. For some reason, it used to make my parents laugh every single time. My mother thought it rather odd to name an eatery “Stuckey”. A good cook doesn’t want food to get stuck. It was always packed with people.
Yes Stuckeys (famous for pecan roll) is a long time interstate tradition, although a shadow of their former self.
Wiki says they’re down to 115 locations from 350 peak.
Wrong Bowling Green. The one in this story is in KY.
I understand that the operator told Chris Christie not to get on but he said that he was governor and he was going to ride no matter what.
Well, guess what happened when the fat slob go on...........?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.