A frightened mother watched in horror as her young children dangled upside down on a faulty fairground ride for 15 minutes.
Ally Metzger captured the heartbreaking moment her eight- and 11-year-old children found themselves floating helplessly in the air Saturday afternoon during the X Drive Carnival Ride at the Arkansas State Fair.
As fairground workers rushed to manually push the broken ride, Metzger said it appeared her 11-year-old daughter had “passed out.”
‘I couldn’t see her. Her eyes were closed. When she got home, she told me that all she remembered was crying, and then she just felt dizzy. Her legs ached. I think because the circulation stopped,” she said KATV.
Although staffers eventually got her children and other passengers down, Metzger and her children are scarred by the nightmarish incident, which “shook up” their plans for the rest of the weekend.
Ally Metzger captured the heartbreaking moment her eight- and 11-year-old children were left swaying helplessly in the air (above left) during the X Drive Carnival Ride at the Arkansas State Fair on Saturday afternoon
Although staffers eventually got her children and other riders down, Metzger (pictured) and her children are scarred by the nightmarish incident.
“There’s a bunch of people trying to get the ride going, and they get it almost halfway… and then it goes all the way back up again, with my kids still upside down. So I’m panicking. My partner is panicking,” the mother said.
After the terrifying moment occurred, Metzger took to Facebook to share her displeasure with the state fair, revealing that a man told her to “calm down” as her children waved in the air.
‘My children were stuck upside down for at least 15 minutes and seven workers couldn’t even get them down. How do you build attractions and not know how to successfully remove people when it closes?” she wrote.
‘Oh and a special shout out to the dummy Chris who told us, “Take it easy, it’s only 4 1/2 minutes.” After what was spent getting here? Give me my refund.”
She then filed a complaint with the fair, saying a “nice lady” checked on her children in a medical tent. Metzger also said she received a full refund.
“I remember why I don’t come here,” she added.
Scooter Korek, an employee of North American Midway Entertainment, the company responsible for the fair’s rides, told KATV that the X Drive Carnival Ride stopped working after “the right computer suffered a glitch.”
As fairground workers manually pushed the broken ride, Metzger said it appeared her 11-year-old daughter had “passed out.” (photo: her daughters are stuck in the air during the ride)
“What it does is if it finds something it doesn’t like, it shuts it down. So the ride was about 10 to 12 minutes in the air and not in the landing position,” Korek said.
He said all riders were evacuated “according to the manufacturer’s specification in the manual,” and that employees are “continually training for that.”
When asked by the outlet if he personally thought the rides were safe, Korek said he trusts his family members “to be able to go on one of our rides every day.”
“That’s how good I feel about our programs, our safety programs and the people who work for us to operate and provide these rides,” he said.
Korek added that before rides are considered safe for North American Midway Entertainment, they must pass five levels of inspection.
“We have a safety director and the Arkansas State Fair ride inspectors. We have the regulators. They are watching these rides,” he assured.
Korek said the company also conducts “periodic third-party inspections,” adding that the “most important” aspect is the employees who operate the rides.
“They travel with us wherever we go,” he added.
Scooter Korek, an employee of North American Midway Entertainment, the company responsible for the rides, that the X Drive Carnival Ride stopped working after “the right computer suffered a glitch.”
In July, Salina Higgins of Tucson, Arizona, revealed how a day with her 10-year-old daughter at SeaWorld San Diego was ruined after the girl’s seat belt came loose on a high-speed roller coaster.
Higgins claimed her daughter began screaming in fear as they hung upside down in the air with her loose strap dangling in front of her eyes.
The terrified mother held on for dear life until the ride was over.
“I happened to open my eyes and my daughter started screaming because her belt — they call it a comfort belt — was dangling in front of her face while we were hanging upside down,” Higgins said. WRAL at the time.
“So I grabbed the leash, strapped it on and held on for dear life, and we both screamed until the ride was over.”
Footage of the ride was captured by Higgins’ niece, who watched from the ground.
Higgins said SeaWorld staff disapproved of her harrowing experience.
When she reported the incident to an attendant, she claims she received a minimal apology before more people were quickly loaded onto the ride.