- October 1, 2021
- Tucker Law
- Premises Accidents
In 2015, a Cedar Point roller coaster accident killed a man. This hasn’t been the only ride that ended badly at Cedar Point, or at amusement park roller coasters across the country. Too many people have died or suffered serious injuries when what was planned to be a day of fun turned into tragedy.
There Have Been Cedar Point Deaths and Injuries from Accidents
Roller coasters like the Cedar Point Valravn are built to scare us. However, they are supposed to scare us in a way that is controlled. They should be exhilarating, terrifying, challenging — but ultimately safe. We ride roller coasters in order to feel like we’re being hurtled through space in chaotic fashion, but we expect to be calmly rolled back into station after the ride’s designated time is up. So, when disaster strikes, it blurs a line between designed thrills and the different sort of chaos that can result when some rules are not obeyed.
While roller coaster and other amusement park accidents are rare, they can cause serious injuries and death. Victims who survive may be left with physical and emotional pain and trauma; financial losses from property damage, medical, hospital, and rehabilitative bills; and lost income if unable to work. Family and social life may never be the same. Sometimes, roller coaster accidents can be caused by negligence on the part of amusement park staff.
For example, in September 2021, at Colorado’s Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, ride operators failed to notice that a 6 year-old girl sat on top of her safety belts instead of being buckled in. The monitoring equipment would have notified the operators of the problem, but it was not properly maintained. The girl tragically died as a result of these negligent actions.
If you or a loved one has been injured or someone has died in an entertainment park accident that was caused by another party’s negligence or fault, you may be entitled to compensation that can cover your financial losses and the suffering you are going through.
New York injury law is complicated, and insurance companies will try to get you to settle for the lowest amount possible; but help is available from the experienced personal injury lawyers at Tucker Lawyers PC. We can take the burden off you by determining if you have a valid case and what it should be worth, investigating the accident and gathering evidence, handling all aspects of your legal claim and aggressively negotiating with all relevant parties and insurance companies to fight for a settlement that can alleviate your financial worries and allow you to concentrate on getting well.
We offer a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss the facts of your case. We work on a contingency basis, so there are no fees to you until we win a settlement. Call us today at (516) 399-2364.
Has Anyone Died at Cedar Point?
On June 26, 2019, two trains at Cedar Point bumped on the Valravn roller coaster. One witness who was in line at the time of the crash reported, “I felt a huge vibration and crash, people were screaming, and people running out of line.”
Fortunately, there were no deaths involved in Valravn’s 2019 crash at Cedar Point. Several people on the trains involved were removed and examined by First Aid, but there are no reliable reports of serious injuries. However, the accident was definitely a warning sign, and Cedar Point responded by closing down the roller coaster for several weeks. Valravn would not reopen until July 12, 2019.
Even though no one was seriously harmed in the most recent Cedar Point accident, not all incidents involving roller coasters at Cedar Point have ended so fortunately. The park has a history of accidents, some being the fault of the park and some being the fault of guests who weren’t following safety procedures. As recently as 2015, a man was killed by Cedar Point’s Rapture roller coaster. Let’s get into a little more detail about that accident, as well as a few more crashes that have taken place at Cedar Point.
How Many People Have Died at Cedar Point?
There Have Been Multiple Deaths and Injuries in Earlier Cedar Point Entertainment Company Accidents
The Cedar Fair Entertainment Company is a multi-establishment entertainment conglomerate that owns and operates many water, theme, and amusement parks across the country. Cedar Point, where these accidents took place, is the second-longest continually running amusement park in America. Unfortunately, there is a dark side to this otherwise fun-loving company. Many accidents and deaths have taken place over the years.
Some deaths have been caused by risky and foolish behavior. That was the case in 2015 when an East Canton man went traversing prohibited grounds in an attempt to retrieve some things he had dropped. Rules were not obeyed. At Cedar Point’s well-renowned Sandusky location, while riding the famous Rapture roller-coaster, 45-year-old area man James Young lost the contents of his pockets. Such is the nature of gravity and pockets without zippers. Despite clear and abundant signage warning customers against exactly this sort of foolhardy exploration, James Young went over a fence in search of his belongings in the dangerous sub-coaster area. Part of the Raptor’s appeal is the high velocity to which its trains ascend. Couple that with the corkscrews, loop-de-loops and sudden chandelles, and it’s not hard to imagine how Mr. Young was blindsided and struck by the coaster. At 57mph, and built of steel, the force was too much and the impact was, tragically, lethal. The only silver lining to the whole ordeal was that none of the riders involved were injured.
However, as the previous account sets up, and as the following list of incident summaries will go on to prove, the overall fault is shared between theme park operators and the park-goers themselves. Sometimes corporate negligence is to blame, and at other times it is a customer’s failure to adhere to safety protocols that causes accidents.
Instances of Cedar Point Accidents
- In August 2021, at a Cedar Point Roller Coaster ride in Sandusky, OH, a woman was hit by a metal part that came loose from a roller coaster car and flew through the air. She suffered a serious head injury.
- In 2013, at the Cedar Point location, a water-level calibration error led one of Snake River Fall’s boats to jump from its water track.
- In July of 2004, metal debris was expelled forcefully from the launch cable of Cedar Point’s Top Thrill Dragster ride as the coaster was deployed. Four passers-by were struck by the high-speed metallic scrap, though all survived. Two were treated on-site and the others brought to a nearby hospital.
- In 1999, at the Carowinds location in South Carlina, two trains on the Thunder Road ride collided, possibly due to a sensor malfunction.
- In 1998, a man was killed in a manner similar to James Young’s accident, though at California’s Great America. This man was struck by the legs of a rider as he sought to retrieve belongings he’d dropped while riding a roller coaster. He spoke only Spanish, but the signs in the area were written in English, so he was unaware of the danger that awaited him. This is an easily rectifiable problem, one that could have been avoided had the signs been translated into more languages, catering to a wider customer base.
- In 1989, two boys leaped out of the Logger’s Run ride, also at California’s Great America. One of the boys died. Certainly, blame cannot be leveled at the park for this incident. Unfortunately, the naïveté of young and foolishly adventurous boys was responsible for this tragic event.
- In 1984, on the Cedar Creek Mine ride, a young boy fell from his coaster car during a 30-foot plummet and fractured his skull. This incident seems to establish a neutral ground between the binary of blame outlined above. Sometimes, even when safety equipment is properly engaged by workers and regulations are followed by customers, accidents still happen.
As you can see, there is a lot of gray area when it comes to the fault assigned in roller coaster accidents. What’s more important than determining blame in each isolated incident is, in the opinion of Tucker Lawyers PC, that the powers-that-be work together with the individual park operators to keep thrill-seekers informed of the rules. If those rules are then enforced stringently, we believe fewer accidents will occur. In this scenario, everybody wins.
When Negligence Causes Cedar Point Accidents
You May Be Entitled to Compensation for a Cedar Point Accident, If Another Party Is at Fault
In cases where another party is at fault for causing the accident, you may be able to win compensation for the losses you sustained. In addition to the Cedar Point Entertainment Company, negligent parties may include the manufacturer of equipment that failed, the operator of the ride, or the manager of the individual park where the accident took place.
In a successful case, our Tucker attorneys can win a monetary award, called damages, as compensation for your injuries. In New York, damage awards usually fall into two categories: compensatory damages, for economic and non-economic losses; and punitive damages, to punish someone for extreme wrongdoing.
Economic Damages — cover your monetary losses for costs and expenses that result from the accident, such as medical and therapy bills, lost earnings from being unable to work, and any property damage.
Non-economic Damages – for damages which do not have a specific dollar value but negatively affect your life, such as pain and suffering, mental and emotional anguish, permanent disability or disfigurement, and loss of consortium and enjoyment of life.
To win your case, we must prove negligence legally by showing the following elements:
- Duty: The defendant owed you a duty of care to act responsibly and not to cause harm.
- Breach: The defendant breached this duty.
- Cause: The defendant’s breach caused your injuries.
- Damage: You suffered damages as a result.
Amounts of Damage Awards You May Recover
The amount of damages you may be awarded for personal injury or wrongful death can vary greatly, from thousands to millions of dollars, depending on the individual circumstances of the case and the extent of your injuries. When you contact our lawyers, we will evaluate your case and come up with an estimate of what it should be worth and fight to win the compensation you deserve.
Do You Have a Cedar Point Roller Coaster Accident Case?
Roller coaster accidents are incredibly rare. Which is fortunate, because nothing is so disheartening as the stark contrast between the bright, raucous merriment of a theme park and the grim alternative scene endured by those left to grieve after unspeakable tragedy.
Have you or a loved one been injured at a water park or amusement park? Has your day of fun turned into a day of misery because of the malfeasance or neglect of a proprietor? If we can prove that negligence had a hand in your injuries, we may be able to win you compensation. At Tucker Lawyers PC, we have a team of compassionate and knowledgeable personal injury attorneys in Manhattan adept at proving just that. To learn more about your rights, contact us today and we’ll schedule a free consultation.
Call Tucker Lawyers today at (516) 399-2364.
Managing Attorney John. J. Tucker, Esq.
John has personally handled thousands of clients who were victims of another’s negligence and fights relentlessly for their rights. John enjoys bringing closure to a client’s matter so that the injured party can move forward with their life. His background enables him to evaluate complex liability related claims and bring resolution to claims in a record time frame. [ Attorney Bio ]