A roller coaster ride may have turned into a tragic accident for a young boy after his seat belt malfunctioned, but his dad calmly managed to hold onto his son and completed the ride. The video of the heroic act caught on a cellphone has gone viral. It shows the father confidently holding onto his son, preventing him from slipping and falling. However, when the father inquired about the incident with the crew operating the ride, he got a frightening response.
A fun roller coaster ride turned into a nightmare for 6-year-old Kaysen, who was with his father, Delbert Latham. During mid-ride, the boy’s seat belt malfunctioned. However, instead of panicking, the boy’s father confidently protected him by securely holding onto him for the entire duration of the ride. The incident happened at a Wonderland Amusement Park in Amarillo, Texas.
The father-son duo was on the Mousetrap roller coaster when the incident happened, reported Yahoo News. Incidentally, their earlier ride on the exact same roller coaster as well as the exact same car was fun, so the dad decided to film his son on his cellphone to show his wife. However, the video recorded the frightened expressions of the boy, which has gone viral.
The video captured by Latham shows young Kaysen as the father-son duo is about to start the roller coaster ride. However, a few moments into the ride, the boy’s seat belt comes undone, throwing him to the bottom of the cart. The father, realizing the danger, doesn’t panic, and he quickly grabs his son and clutches him for the entire duration of the ride.
Despite being aware of the potential danger to the unstrapped boy, the father keeps telling him, “You’re fine. I promise. I’ve got you. There are no more big hills.”
Incidentally, the duo was strapped into the same seat as the first ride. The first ride was uneventful. However, when Latham latched on his son’s seat belt, it came undone as he tightened the band, reported ABC News.
“I just thought I didn’t get it clicked in well enough. I re-clicked it and tightened it up. It was fine. There were no problems with it.”
But as the father was to realize soon, it wasn’t fine. At the very first drop, the dad realized the seat belt had loosened, and before he could do anything about it, his son’s safety harness came undone. Moreover, the motion threw the poor kid to the bottom of the cart. The father continued recording the incident while holding onto to his son.
Speaking about the incident, Latham added, “I was just trying to make sure that he held on and that he didn’t start panicking or start trying to move or anything, because I knew that there was another drop coming up.”
While the boy didn’t suffer any injuries, the worst was yet to come in the form of blatant apathy. After they disembarked, the concerned father approached the operator of the ride and informed him about the mishap. Although the operator apologized, it was his apparent indifference that was baffling, shared Latham on Facebook.
“What makes it worse is when I told the guy at the end of the ride he stated that he knew that had happened sometimes!! That’s when it made me more angry.”
What’s even more horrifying is that the operator allowed people to continue to ride and merely prevented people from getting in the dodgy car in which the father-son duo was seated earlier, continued Latham.
“The amusement park should have shut the ride down and not anyone else on.”
According to ABC affiliate KVII in Amarillo, four people sustained injuries on the same ride about two years ago. The news affiliate has access to a Texas Department of Insurance injury report that chronicled the events that led to the non-fatal but concerning injuries.
Wonderland Amusement Park released a statement that categorically mentioned that the particular roller coaster ride never had any seat belts in the first place, but they were added as an extra safety precaution, reported CNN.
[Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images]