Family of 10-year-old thrown from festival ride speaks out
A 10-year-old boy is in critical condition after he fell Sunday from a carnival ride in Illinois.
Huntley Daniels was on a ride called The Moby Dick at the Taste of Summer Festival in Antioch, Illinois, about an hour north of Chicago, when he somehow "appeared to have been thrown" off the ride, according to Antioch Police.
The Illinois Department of Labor and the Office of Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul are now investigating the incident.
Huntley was airlifted to a local hospital initially, but because of the severity of his injuries, he was flown to Comer Children's Hospital in Chicago, Antioch Police said in a July 17 press release. Authorities say he has already undergone multiple surgeries to repair facial fractures and a significant injury to his leg.
The boy's family members have been by his bedside ever since he arrived at Comer, his grandmother Dawne Pohlman told ABC News. She said the family has been in a state of shock.
"He did just get out of surgery and he is now stable. But he does have a long road to recovery," Pohlman said. "You just don't expect this to happen. And it's just horrific, what we're going through."
Huntley's family says he has a long road ahead but they know that he is strong.
Ronald Hipólito told ABC affiliate WLS in Chicago that his wife and son had safety concerns about The Moby Dick ride last week.
"My wife said she had to stop the ride because my youngest son felt unsecured inside the roller coaster. He felt like he was going to fly out," Hipólito said.
Huntley's fall comes two weeks after another scare at the Carowinds Amusement Park in Charlotte, North Carolina, where a patron noticed a crack in a support pillar on a roller coaster as riders passed over it. That ride, the Fury 325, has since been closed while it gets repaired and tested.
Amusement industry consultant Brian Avery told ABC News the latest incidents show closer examinations of amusement park rides are needed.
"We really need to take a harder look at the training that's going on and the gaps that are emerging with respect to the types of incidents that we're seeing as of late," Avery said.
