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12-Year-Old Florida Girl In Critical Condition After Thrill Ride Fall
Girl Being Cared For At UW Hospital
Updated: 8:34 pm CDT July 31, 2010

LAKE DELTON, Wis. -- A 12-year-old Florida girl was seriously hurt on Friday morning after an accident at a free-fall amusement ride in Wisconsin Dells.

University of Wisconsin Hospital officials said that Teagan N. Marti was in critical condition as of Saturday afternoon.

Lake Delton Police Chief Thomas Dorner said Marti was participating in the "Terminal Velocity" ride at Extreme World in the Wisconsin Dells. The incident happened just before noon at the pyramid-shaped structure, which allows participants to experience a controlled 100-foot free fall. Dorner said as part of the ride, a net that was supposed to catch Marti and break her fall wasn't high enough above the ground and she hit the gravel platform below. She fell at least 40 feet, authorities said.

"My understand is that the safety net, the mechanism that's down below on the ground that was supposed to break her fall, wasn't completely up high enough," Dorner said, "So, instead of safely landing in this mechanism, she hit the ground instead."

Bystander Judy Norys said she just couldn't believe what had happened. She said she pulled into the parking lot when the accident happened.

"I head a mom screaming and I looked down and there was a little girl on the ground and the mom was saying, 'Please don't let my baby die, please don't let my baby die,'" Norys said.

Norys and the Marti's father immediately started performing CPR on her.
"We just did it until the ambulance came, but she was already bleeding from everywhere. It wasn't enough," she said.

A University of Wisconsin Hospital spokeswoman said the hospital's MedFlight helicopter was called to respond and returned with one patient.

A report on Saturday from the Wisconsin State Journal said that the extreme sports park in Wisconsin Dells where Marti was severely injured on a free fall ride is up for foreclosure sale.

The report said that Extreme World is scheduled to be sold at a Sept. 7 Sauk County Sheriff's sale.

According to Sauk County's online land information program, SOARING, Anderson also owes more than $82,000 in delinquent taxes on three Anderson Amusement parcels.

Extreme World Owner Bill Anderson declined to comment.

An Extreme World employee read a statement saying the company's employees "are praying for the girl and her family."

Extreme World Owner Bill Anderson said it's the first accident in the ride's eight-year history. Anderson said he's cooperating with authorities and per state orders, has shut down the ride until the investigation into what happened is complete.
Despite the incident, Dorner said that these kinds of accidents aren't common.
"This is very rare thing. These rides are built and operated in a very safe manner," he said.

The state Department of Commerce, Lake Delton police and Sauk County Sheriff's Department are investigating the incident. Authorities said that they'll compile their report and forward everything to the district attorney to see if any charges will be filed.

Commerce officials said the ride was inspected last on June 28 and there were no reports of violations. They also said that the ride has been inspected annually since 2004 and there haven't been any reports of accidents.

Extreme World's website touts the ride as the only one in the Midwest "that provides an ankle-harness free fall."

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Lake Delton police: operator error to blame for accident that seriously injured Florida girl
Police forwarding case to prosecutors

Lake Delton police said operator error is to blame for the incident that seriously injured a 12-year-old Florida girl in Wisconsin Dells.

Investigators said the net for the "Terminal Velocity" bungee-cord ride at Extreme World was set up improperly too close to the ground. They also said the ride workers did not follow safety protocols at the park, which is up for foreclosure sale.

While police said the incident was unintentional, they plan on forwarding the findings to the Sauk County District Attorney's office.

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Employee error led to Wisconsin Dells thrill ride accident, police say

The 12-year-old girl critically injured on a Wisconsin Dells thrill ride Friday fell about 100 feet directly to the ground after a safety net was not raised due to operator error, Lake Delton police said Monday.

The case is being referred to the Sauk County district attorney for possible criminal charges.

Teagan Marti, of Parkland, Fla., was in critical condition at American Family Children's Hospital in Madison as of Monday evening.

Officials said Monday riders on Extreme World's Terminal Velocity are supposed to be dropped from 140 feet into a net 100 feet below the bottom of the platform. The net is 40 feet off the ground.

However, when Teagan was released, she was only 100 feet up, and the net was fully on the ground, according to a news release from the Lake Delton Police Department. Only the tubing around the net was inflated.

The ride attendant at the top of the release platform is supposed to look down at the ground, inspect the drop area for any problems and then look at the ground attendant for an exchange of arm signals to indicate the release platform and landing net are at the proper height, the release said. Police did not release the operators' names Monday.

Police determined the proper procedure wasn't followed before Teagan was dropped, but said there was no intent to harm her.

"Yes, it was definitely ... operator error," Extreme World owner Bill Anderson said Monday. "All I can say is there was certain protocol that was not followed and it happened."

Teagan's father and a family spokesman are expected to update the media on Teagan's condition and answer questions Tuesday morning.

As part of the investigation, Chief Tom Dorner said police viewed four different recordings of Teagan's fall. The videos are not being released at this time. About 20 people witnessed the fall, including the two people operating the ride, he said.

Police will be referring the results of its investigation to the Sauk County district attorney's office for its consideration. Officials in the DA's office did not return a call late Monday afternoon.

Extreme World, which has been in business for 17 years, was closed Friday and Saturday, but is now reopened. The ride remains closed.

Anderson said the park has had Terminal Velocity for eight years and there has "never been an accident of any kind of this nature."

According to Extreme World's website, the Terminal Velocity platform is 140 feet off the ground and a diver drops 100 feet at speeds up to 52 mph into a double net above the ground.

Sauk County Circuit Court records show the amusement park is set to be sold in a foreclosure sale next month. Anderson said Monday the sale and the accident are unrelated.

"There were no shortcuts taken," he said of the park's operations, adding his business has been hit by the slow economy for the past four years.

"Right now ... I'm still thinking more about that family than anything," Anderson said, adding he's also thinking about the operator who's also "having a very hard time."

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Will Extreme World ride reopen?

The Lake Delton Police sent its report of last week's accident at Extreme World's Terminal Velocity to the Sauk County District Attorney's Office Friday, and the Department of Commerce has not completed its reports or determined if the ride will reopen.

Chief Tom Dorner wrote in a press release his department would confer with D.A. Patricia Barrett's office to determine how much, if any, of the police report is released to the public before the DA reviews the case for possible criminal charges.

According to a report by WKOW-27, the ride's operator has been identified as Charles Carnell, 33, of Wisconsin Dells.

Lt. Janet Klipp would not confirm or deny Friday that Carnell was the operator who dropped 12-year-old Teagan Marti 100 feet July 30.

As for the four homemade videos of the fall, Dorner wrote that the department was expecting to have copies of the videos by late Friday. Lake Delton Police had the Department of Criminal Investigation remove the videos from recording devices.

Department of Commerce inspectors returned to Extreme World Thursday for the third time to continue its investigation into Marti's fall to the ground, owner Bill Anderson said.

Anderson and Commerce representatives discussed possible protocol changes for Terminal Velocity, but Anderson said he didn't want to comment on the new protocol because "many options" were discussed.

Maintenance at 2 a.m.

Extreme World maintenance workers were at the park around 1:53 a.m. Thursday working on Terminal Velocity, according to a Lake Delton informational police report.

Officer Lucas Killick said he noticed the ride's lights were on, and "based on the unusual circumstances" he decided to investigate.

Killick spoke with track Manager William Whitt, who said workers were repairing the ride's control arms. The arms, Whitt said, are located on the ride's four outside support columns and are used to evenly guide the drop net support wires when the net is raised, the report said.

Anderson said the work was routine maintenance that was done because he knew inspectors were coming later on Thursday.

"I said, ‘We are going to be inspected, let's start from point zero,'" he said. "We didn't have to do it."

Whitt told Killick that the control arms hadn't been replaced in the ride's eight year history and were rusted "beyond the ability to turn them."

Extreme World reopened Sunday, but Terminal Velocity remains closed. The ride cannot be reopened without approval from the Department of Commerce, which officially closed the ride.

Anderson added, "I don't know if they will even open it."

According to a spokeswoman in the Commerce communications office, the state's report isn't expected to be completed until the end of next week.

The office did release a one-page amusement ride accident report this week, which was signed by Anderson, that says Marti "was released by the ride operator before the net was raised to its proper height. Protocol was not followed."

According to Commerce, amusement rides inspections include the following things:

-- Inspection of the foundation to make sure the ride is level and erected according to manufacturer's requirements

-- Complex rides are inspected during the ride's erection.

-- Inspection of the power transmission, power electrical supply, the loading and unloading area and the ride for health and safety concerns.

-- Inspectors look at shafts, cables, drive sprockets, idler pulleys, sweeps and other mechanical features to ensure safe operation of the ride.

-- Inspectors check seat belts, straps, sharp edges and other unsafe items to ensure safety.

Terminal Velocity has not failed an inspection in its eight-year history, and was last inspected June 28. This was the first serious accident at the park since it opened in 1993.

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Amusement Park Worker Charles A. Carnell Charged After 12-Year-Old Girl's 100-Foot Fall

MADISON, Wis. — An amusement park worker "blanked out" and never saw an all-clear signal before he let a Florida girl plunge 100 feet to the ground on a free-fall ride, according to a criminal complaint.

Prosecutors charged Charles A. Carnell, of Lake Delton, with one count of first-degree-reckless injury, a felony punishable by up 25 years in prison and $100,000 in fines.

Sauk County Circuit Court Judge James Evenson on Wednesday set Carnell's bail at $1,000 cash with the conditions he have no contact with the girl or her family. The judge also ordered Carnell not to operate the park's free-fall ride, bungee jump or ejector seat ride.

Carnell's attorney, Christopher T. Van Wagner, didn't immediately return a message left at his Madison office.

The complaint, filed Tuesday, said Carnell, 33, was the dive master on the Terminal Velocity free-fall ride at Extreme World in Lake Delton on July 30. The ride offers patrons a chance to free fall about 160 feet into a net and air bags.

Twelve-year-old Teagan Marti of Parkland, Fla., entered the ride the morning of July 30. Carnell told investigators he rode in the cage with the girl and two others.

At some point the cage stopped and was lowered slightly, Carnell said. He looked over the side of the cage and saw a co-worker blowing up the air bag.

The cage began ascending again, then stopped. Carnell said ground workers typically will halt the ascent to add more air to the air bags.

After the cage stopped the second time, Carnell said he was supposed to look over the side of the cage and extend his arms, signaling all-clear to workers on the ground. A ground worker was supposed to return the signal, telling him the air bags were ready.

He said he didn't look and didn't get the signal from the ground. He said he "totally blanked out" and didn't know why.

When he looked through a trap door in the cage, he thought the bags were inflated. Witnesses, however, said the bags weren't inflated and the safety net was on the ground.

Carnell then prepared Teagan to drop through the trap door. He unhooked her safety device and she fell to the ground. He said he heard a thud and saw her land on her back.

He said he realized then the cage wasn't at the proper height, estimating she probably fell about 100 feet rather than the full 165 feet.

Police said they found the girl on the ground under the ride. Her skin was gray, her lips were blue and she was bleeding from the mouth, ears and nose.

Doctors said she suffered swelling in her brain, multiple severe fractures of her spine and pelvis and lacerations to her liver, spleen and intestines. They told investigators she could end up paralyzed.

The girl was listed in critical but stable condition Wednesday at American Family Children's Hospital in Madison, hospital spokeswoman Ellen Schwenn said. She declined to release any additional information, citing health privacy laws.

Stuart Grossman, an attorney for Teagan's family, said the ride needs a fail-safe mechanism that warns operators when the cage has reached the correct height and whether the net and air bags are ready.

"It is high time that the state acknowledged that this ride, the way it was operated, was atrocious," Grossman said. "That he could be allowed through carelessness to drop a human being a hundred feet with no net extended is really a moral outrage."