The World’s Tallest Water Slide Was a Terrible, Tragic Idea

[Music] [Music] if we mess up it could be the end all right boys kiss it goodbye Minh [Music] [Music] it fell backwards tipped over and kill every sandbag in there we saw the good the bad and the ugly we got enough that we're all comfortable with what we saw so we're good to go for tomorrow [Music] [Music] that was the best ride I ever been on I know I mean - that was truly exciting because we really didn't know whether we were going to survive it or not usually on a ride it might be scary but you figure that you know they've haven't figured out and we didn't know whether we had it figured out or not I always set out to break all the records I want to be the first at the bar to buy a drink and I want to be the first to meet a pretty girl I want to be the first at everything I want to have the biggest the tallest and the fastest rides and in parks the next one I build is going to be twice as bigger than the one after that's going to even bigger than that it is insane and that's actually when it's called it's called Verruckt which is German for insane and today the governor of Kansas Sam Brownback mayor KCK mark Holland officials from the Guinness Book of World Records will all be here to officially measure this water slide and submit it for the world record my wife has given me permission to ride down the slide but she has not cleared any of our children I don't know what that means if you don't think about it you just enjoy the ride which is probably the best way to do life [Music] [Music] keep in mind throughout the designing building and rebuilding of Baruch they've been reaching out for mathematical physical and engineering advice they have all been completely wrong every bit of advice we've been given from the brightest brains and the smartest engineers mathematicians just have not been correct despite this being the rides third delay to open Mo's visitors here at Schlitterbahn planned to return for the ride Derek Potts just caught the end of a test run the rat slowly made it over the final hill they have a little net over the top so it looks like they'll catch you if you fly off of it good enough for him to let his ten-year-old daughter take the drop come opening-day is live at Schlitterbahn where riders are getting their first thrill down verruckt sarah that's right Cindy I got to here the very first screams from this ride and just take a look at it we've been watching as the rats go up and down all day today freaking out a heck of a lot of people here at the park are you gonna go on that waterslide yeah why not it's too scary [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Matt is still a very active scene here at Schlitterbahn waterpark I want you to take a look at the fire trucks that are still out here Kansas City Kansas police department on scene here investigating in Kansas City Kansas tragedy on Schlitterbahn sattva Ruth we are saddened to share that a young boy died the child is the son of Kansas state representative Scott Schwab of Olathe our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time kermin investigators can now confirm Kaleb Schwab was decapitated by the Verruckt a slide at Casey Kay's at Short urban park I spoke with a min Missouri man who was at the park at the time we just heard this loud cracking noise almost and so we all looked and we saw that there was the supports that hold the netting in place that's over the slide the couple of them were all bent and jagged out of place my mom saw the two people on the other behind the second if there are row seats and they were just covered in blood it was horrible Schlitterbahn announcing today that the water park will remain reopened on wednesday but the popular waterslide will remain closed yeah tonight there are new questions about the inspection process Fox fours problem-solver spoke to one employee says yesterday's death was tragic but not surprising when to wake her joins us now Linda this veteran Schlitterbahn employee said she was shocked when she first started working at the water park by what she described as a lack of training for employees operating the rides she also blamed inadequate safety inspections by the parks own employees the only inspections we've ever done is just people writing down slides one time saying oh it's okay you're good to go for the rest of the day now in fact Kansas has a national reputation for providing minimal state oversight at amusement parks now Kansas law requires parks like Schlitterbahn to expect everything from seat belts to brakes and barricades daily but unlike Missouri no state agency does the inspections they aren't made public and reports do not to have to be turned over to state [Applause] we weren't sure whether to come or not but we decided to go ahead and come and but you know kind of mixed feelings but you know the kids were looking forward to it and you know we decided to come and we actually we brought some flowers with us because it just felt odd coming and not doing anything or recognizing it at Schlitterbahn waterpark the magic begins the moment we arrived [Music] Oh the heart at the end of the day we all have something special to hold on to [Music] you

Channel: The Atlantic

Views: 1,173,496

Rating: 4.6368074 out of 5

Keywords: schlitterbahn, schlitterbahn kansas city, schlitterbahn waterpark, water slide death, water slide accident, water slide tragedy, kansas water slide accident, tallest water slide, water slide, water ride, Kansas City, Caleb Schwab, Jeffrey Wayne Henry, John Timothy Schooley, Verrückt, The World's Tallest, dangerous water slides, verruckt water slide documentary, water slide video, kansas water slide video, texas, kansas, waterslide pov, waterslide, water parks, freak accident

Id: ulIcekOTOqg

Length: 9min 10sec (550 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 13 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/daviator88]

Wow. That's a truly horrible way to die. So weird to think of something so gruesome happening at a what's supposed to be a fun place to relax.

[u/Sreyz]

On February 22, 2019, criminal charges were dismissed against Henry, Schooley, and Miles due to the fact that inadmissible evidence had been presented to the grand jury. The judge's ruling called out state attorneys for presenting the Xtreme Waterparks episode to jurors as fact, instead of as a "fictional and dramatized version of events created for entertainment purposes", and expert witnesses for claiming that the designers of the slide were negligent in not following ASTM standards, despite the fact that the law at the time did not require that those standards be followed.

[u/pure_x01]

Details about the accident https://youtu.be/lKizH5wxSvU

[u/MovingClocks]

Jeff Henry, the cofounder of the park and one of the "designers" of the ride (shown during the prototype scene), was actually arrested for methamphetamine use and soliciting a prostitute a year or so after the boy's death.

​

https://fox4kc.com/2018/12/12/court-docs-detail-meth-use-prostitution-that-led-to-charges-against-schlitterbahn-co-owner-in-johnson-county/

[u/-Samg381-]

The fact that they had even built a prototype without having done the calculations needed to accurately predict the behavior of the raft is astounding to me.

[u/128e]

when i saw the poles and netting first thing i thought is i'd rather they not be there.

[u/Physics_Cat]

Little dude at 4:25 captured my feelings perfectly.

[u/Zlatan4Ever]

What did they expect? Funny slogan at the end "at the end of the day, we have all something to hold on to"... the boy lost his head.

[u/Neverhood123]

That ending clip is some Black Mirror shit.