10 key allegations in the Schlitterbahn indictment
Friday's grand jury indictment makes several serious allegations against Schlitterbahn and its local operations manager, Tyler Miles. The company and Miles now face several charges, including involuntary manslaughter.
Here are are excerpts from the 47-page indictment that highlight key allegations.
1. A video recording of (Caleb Schwab's) death confirms that, at the time of his death, (Caleb) was obeying all rider instructions.
2. The death of (Caleb) appeared at first to be an isolated and unforeseeable incident until whistleblowers from within Schlitterbahn's own ranks came forward and revealed that Schlitterbahn had covered up similar incidents in the past.
3. In fact, the design and operation of the Verruckt complied with few, in any of the industry safety standards.
4. Those responsible for Verruckt's operation knew they were guilty of criminal misconduct, as evinced by their attempts to conceal evidence from law enforcement officers. Those obstructions substantially delayed the investigation.
5. John Schooley (lead designer along with John Henry) possesses no engineering credentials relevant to amusement ride design or safety. As lead designer, Schooley was responsible for overseeing the onsite work and reported directly to Henry. Schooley was the person responsible for doing "the math" that went into Verruckt's design.
6. Due to Henry's and Schooley's lack of expertise and a desire to rush the time line, they skipped fundamental steps in the design process. In place of mathematics and physical calculations, they rushed forward relying almost entirely on crude trial-and-error methods.
7. Henry and Schooley considered imposing a rider age restriction to prevent younger children from riding Verruckt. (Consultant John) Hunsucker recommended an age limit of 16 years of age, due to the ride's extreme nature. The designers selected 14 years of age which was printed on signage. However, on the eve of grand opening, the decision was made to eliminate the age restriction and allow younger children to ride Verruckt. Stickers were used partially to cover the age restriction language on the posted signage.
8. Henry, Schooley and Miles each had knowledge that rafts were still going airborne in the days before Verruckt's grand opening to the public, meaning the installation of overhead hoops and netting above the ride path was particularly reckless.
9. On August 16, 2014, Hunsucker wrote a report to Henry warning him that Verruckt was unfinished and was still in an unsafe condition. Henry obviously ignored the report because Verruckt remained in operation.
10. On or about Sept. 1, 2016, one of the lifeguards Miles had coerced into writing a coached statement, N.W. (age 17) came forward to (KCK Police) Det. Sutton and revealed Miles' efforts to cover up the (J.J.) Groves incident in June of 2016. Investigators then interviewed Groves, the lifeguards and the medical staff who were involved in the Groves incident. Each person independently corroborated Miles' efforts to cover up.
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This story was originally published March 23, 2018 at 8:06 PM with the headline "10 key allegations in the Schlitterbahn indictment."