Friday around 5:30 p.m., a 64-year-old man was somehow ejected from the Opa! roller coaster ride and fell almost 20 feet to the ground below. A witness told reporters at NBC 15 that the seriously injured man was breathing but unconscious and bleeding badly with wounds to both the head and arm. The man was airlifted to a Madison, Wisconsin trauma center. The thoughts and prayers of the roller coaster injury attorneys at Denena Points, PC are with the injured man and his family, hoping for his safe and complete recovery.
The accident occurred at the indoor Mount Olympus Theme Park and Water Park Resort. Three other people were on the ride with the man who was ejected, but they remained uninjured. The Opa! roller coaster was shut down until further notice after the accident, though the park generally continued to be open.
At this time, information regarding the cause of the accident has not been released. The ride’s manufacturer was coming to inspect the ride, and inspectors from the WI Department of Occupational Safety and Health were also looking into the cause behind the man’s fall from the roller coaster. (Lydia Mulvany, Journal Sentinel; nbc15.com; and WISN 12 News, 3/7/14
Our roller coaster injury attorneys mention that the ride’s manufacturer may have taken the step to quickly begin its own independent investigation into the serious Wisconsin Dells accident after seeing the attempts Six Flags theme park in Texas has made to place the blame for last summer’s fatal fall from a roller coaster onto the company that made the ride. Click the link to learn more about the ongoing controversy over where to place the blame in the tragic Six Flags roller coaster accident.