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16-Year-Old Girl Dies After Being Ejected From Spinning Ride At Texas Church Carnival, Second Teen Injured

By Tara West
Published on: 06:21 PST, Apr 30, 2016

A 16-year-old girl was killed after being ejected from a spinning ride at the St. Thomas Aquinas Church carnival in El Paso, Texas. The teen attended the carnival with two friends and rode the Sizzler ride which is a spinning ride that contains a number of seats that rotate and circle each other. The three girls all got on the ride and were the only riders at the time of the horrific accident. Two of the teens were thrown from the ride, with the 16-year-old girl hitting a metal barricade causing fatal injuries. The second teen was injured, but her injures were not determined to be life-threatening.

The Daily Mail reports that a teen girl is dead and another injured after a tragic accident involving a church carnival ride. Three teens attended the St. Thomas Aquinas Church carnival on Friday night to celebrate the Dia De Los Niños. The girls, between the ages of 15 and 18, got onto the Sizzler ride together and were the only ones on the ride when tragedy struck. As the ride began to spin, two of the teens were thrown from the seat. A 16-year-old girl would be flung into a metal barricade causing fatal injuries while a 15-year-old girl was also ejected and taken to the hospital. The third teen, an 18-year-old girl, was able to keep from being ejected by grabbing the handlebars as the other girls were thrown from the ride.

Sergeant Enrique Carrillo says that rides such as the Sizzler have required inspections and at this time, it is unclear if the carnival operator hired by the St. Thomas Aquinas Church was “up to par” regarding these regulations. However, he says that safety violations will be determined during the police investigation.

“There’s inspections that are required, whether or not this vendor has been up to par with that hasn’t been determined. That’ll be revealed in the investigation.”

The carnival operator has been identified as Playtime Amusements Inc., and police are investigating whether the company was following proper safety protocol. The reason for the ejection of the teens from the ride has yet to be determined. However, it appears that the handlebars possibly failed during operation.

The names of the three teens involved in the horrifying carnival ride accident have not been revealed. However, it was released that all three girls attended the Hanks High School in El Paso. The father of the victim that was able to secure herself by grabbing the handlebars confirmed that the girls all attended the same school.

At approximately 8:30 p.m. CST, the El Paso Police Department tweeted that they were responding to a carnival accident at the St. Thomas Aquinas Church.

After news of the Sizzler accident was released to the public, one keen-eyed viewer pointed out to police on Twitter that images shown on the news from deadly Sizzler ride shows that the seats were not up to manufacturer standards. User Isaac Sheaffer, who calls himself a “carny-in-training” points out that the Sizzler manufacturer Wisdom Rides sent out a bulletin in 2007 noting that seatbelts were to be installed in all Sizzler rides. Sheaffer says that looking at the photos from the accident, it appears the Sizzler in operation at the El Paso carnival did not have the manufacturer-required seat belts installed.

If the carnival operator was not following updated manufacturer safety protocol, should the company be held liable for the girl’s death?

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