Video Of Boy Falling Off Water Slide 3-Stories Tall Goes Viral — Parents Take Notice

Fox & Friends Weekend on Sunday morning ran a clip of a 10-year-old boy falling off a water slide, and while the video is disturbing to watch, it stands as a warning to all parents today about the safety of your kids at the water parks around the nation. The terrifying video comes from the Wave Water Park in Dublin, California, on the opening day of the park.

According to the Daily Mail, the water slide at this $43 million water park is three-stories tall and from what you see in the video below, it looks as if the boy slammed down on that concrete pretty hard, but miraculously, the child walked away with only scratches.

The park has now closed the water slide as they look into what went wrong. According to CBS News, they have also closed another water ride in the park, leaving only four open for visitors. There was talk about decreasing the water pressure to slow the rides down after this accident, but it is not known if the water pressure contributed to this accident.

The boy was thrown from the Emerald Plunge and he landed on his back on the concrete below. He is seen sliding on that concrete on his bare back for several feet before coming to a stop. When he stopped, he stood up and other than the scratches seen on his back, the boy was O.K., according to officials.

One of the park visitors who witnessed this horrific event said that while the boy appeared not to be injured other than the scratches, the child was visibly shaken. This incident happened within 90 minutes of the water slide’s opening for the season. The video can be seen below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdiD4obFqIs

CBS News reported the boy was seen “hydroplaning with the arch of his back, sliding along the rim of the ride,” before being thrown off the slide. His parents did bring the boy to a nearby hospital to be checked out, but reports today state that the event had him shaken up a bit, but otherwise fine.

With Memorial Day comes the unofficial start of the summer and the water parks and amusement parks will open for the season this weekend around the nation. There were several water slide accidents in past years, one, in particular, made headline news around the globe.

A horrific accident happened on a water slide that is deemed the “world’s tallest” last year. Another 10-year-old boy riding a waterslide met with an accident, but this tragic event took the boy’s life instantly. Caleb Schwab was riding the water slide at the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, Kansas, and he was decapitated when he was thrown from the ride.

According to an article from the Daily Mail back in August of last year, the Schwab family was enjoying the day at the water park when this horrific accident took place. During the ride down this 168-foot water slide, Caleb became airborne out of his seat and witnesses described the boy hitting the nets, which decapitated him. Two female passengers on this water slide, who were sitting directly behind Caleb, received facial injuries as the boy was thrown from his seat.

In the Kanas incident, the park had recently got rid of the age limit of 14 for riding this slide in lieu of a weight limit. Witnesses to this accident described a gruesome scene. Caleb Thomas Schwab was the son of a state legislator in Kansas and on Sunday, August 7, 2016, he lost his life in an accident on a water slide, an accident that was seen in headlines worldwide. The initial probe found that the velcro seat belts designed to keep passengers in their seat during the gravity pull on the way down the slide were not working properly the day that Caleb died. These incidents are not rare, as seen in the Facebook post below, where another child died on a water slide.

https://www.facebook.com/ValleyNewsLive/posts/10154386582992326?match=d2F0ZXJzbGlkZSxmYWxsLGJveQ%3D%3D

While the water slides, along with amusement park rides, are under strict maintenance rules and regulations, it only takes something as simple as a seat belt malfunction to cause a tragedy, which is what was seen in Kansas with Caleb. It is not known what caused this weekend’s water slide accident, but the probe is underway.

https://www.facebook.com/rricker1/posts/10210703272477051?match=Ym95IGZhbGxzIG9mZix3YXRlcnNsaWRl

You see it all the time at amusement parks, the younger kids of a family are excluded from the rides that their older siblings can get on because they don’t fit the height or weight criteria. Often times kids are right on the cusp of those specifications, but parents aren’t doing the kids a favor by allowing them on the ride just the same. It is not pleasant to see a child feel excluded and crying because they are too small for one of these attractions, but that few minutes of whining will eventually stop. It is not worth taking that chance.

[Featured Image by Charlie Riedel/AP Images]