Antioch police have seized the Moby Dick thrill ride just days after a 10-year old boy was seriously hurt after being thrown from the attraction.
Huntley Daniels, 10, was airlifted to two different hospitals with serious injuries to his face and one leg after being thrown from the Moby Dick thrill ride on Sunday during Antioch’s Taste of Summer Festival.
NBC 5 Investigates has learned the ride’s manufacturer, Wisdom Rides, had previously issued safety alerts and service bulletins related to this style of ride, which operates under the name "Moby Dick" and others.
According to the company’s website, the most recent service bulletin was issued in July 2019 for the Moby Dick and its sister rides – named the Avalanche and Seven Seas.
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The bulletin contained the subject line “lapbar inspection and repair procedure,” which asked operators to “perform the following inspection and repair if needed immediately.” The bulletin went on to encourage operators to inspect both sided of the lapbar at the end of the “reinforcing gussets.”
It also noted to use “appropriate indicating powder to check for indications of cracks in the tubing.”
The safety alert, issued in 2010, notes that if the lap bar doesn’t stay locked, it urges operators to check that the “gear teeth on the lock dog and gear segment are not filled with dust, or hard grease," adding to clean if necessary.
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The safety bulletin also notes to check for broken springs and replace parts as need, among other things.
Operators are to put any seat out of service until the locking mechanism is repaired, the alert notes.
It is not clear what caused the incident that left the 10-year-old boy seriously injured, and the incident remains under investigation.
NBC 5 Investigates made several calls Thursday to the ride’s operator, All Around Amusement, which were not returned.
A woman who answered the phone Thursday at Wisdom Rides told NBC 5 Investigates to submit our questions via email.
We did so but have not yet received a response as of Thursday afternoon.
Another boy, also on the same ride as 10-year old Huntley Daniels, described feeling uncertain of its safety at the time.
“My bar was coming up over my head,” Elliott Johnson told NBC Chicago. “Every time I went up, because it was going up, I was almost about to fall out, I would slam down to close it,” he said referring to the safety bar.
On Wednesday, Antioch Police served a search warrant on the Moby Dick thrill ride, which was being stored in south suburban Shorewood.
The thrill ride was seized and brought back to Antioch Wednesday as the department conducts a criminal investigation to determine if any “criminal reckless or negligent acts may have contributed to the accident,” the department said in a new release.
The release also noted that:
“Antioch Police Chief Geoffrey Guttschow directed detectives to work with the Lake County States Attorney’s office to immediately apply for a search warrant to secure possession of the ride as part of the ongoing criminal investigation into the incident. The ILDOL inspections began Sunday afternoon in Antioch, hours after the incident. On Monday, All Around Amusement moved the ride from Antioch to a storage facility in south suburban Shorewood, where the inspection process by ILDOL continued. Following the most recent inspection, the Antioch Police Department obtained a search warrant from a Lake County judge which allowed the Antioch Police detectives to seize the ride as evidence in the criminal investigation..."
When asked by NBC 5 Investigates if the investigators had determined if human error, mechanical or some combination was involved in Sunday’s incident, Illinois Department of Labor spokesman Paul Cicchini said: “It’s too early in this investigation to comment, and when the investigation is complete we will certainly have something to say.”
The Illinois DOL’s six ride inspectors in the state remain busy and that typically they can spend an average of nine hours on sites of carnivals and festivals inspecting rides, the spokesman said.
According to data reviewed by NBC 5 Investigates from ILDOL’s Amusement Ride and Attraction Safety Division, there were 30 injuries reported last year and more than 2,600 rides inspected.
NBC 5 Investigates also reached out to Brian Avery, a safety expert focusing on amusement ride safety. He told us it is typical for manufacturers to issue service bulletins and safety alerts, but he added he thinks the industry needs to make a renewed focus on training.
“So we need to close that gap moving forward, to make sure that the information is being received and that it is being used so that we can curtail these types of injuries or deaths moving forward,” Avery said.
In addition to the state’s Department of Labor and Antioch Police, the Consumer Product Safety Commission also told NBC 5 Investigates it too is now conducting an investigation into the Antioch incident, according to a CPSC spokesman.
