[News] Man filmed dangling from theme park ride dies after falling 50ft in front of crowd

A man has died after falling from a theme park ride to the ground 50 feet below.

 

The 32-year-old man, whose name was not released, was seen on video “just hanging” from the Sky Ride at the Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington, Utah, US.

 

 

Onlookers said that the man “looked calm” as he hanged from the ride and didn’t appear to be making any effort to get back into the gondola, which carries visitors across the amusement park.

 

 

The first emergency calls about the incident were placed around 6pm on Saturday, August 14. The man was transported via helicopter to University of Utah Hospital in a critical condition but sadly died early on Monday, August 16.

 

“We’re still trying to figure out why he ended up doing that,” said Farmington Police Chief Wayne Hansen. He added that toxicology tests would be conducted as part of an autopsy.

 

The ride has a safety bar which prevents passengers from getting out of the chair while it’s in motion.

 

 

“That’s part of what we checked, and it was functioning as it should,” Chief Hansen said.

 

“It would appear he did something to get around that.”

 

He added the man was alone on the ride but that family members had accompanied him to the park.

 

 

Hansen said park management has been cooperating with the police investigation and said he was sure they would also do their own “own independent look into things”.

 

He went on: “It’s really a matter of what he was doing and why, and some of it we may never know.”

 

John Gleason, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Transportation, said the Utah Passenger Ropeway Safety Committee has jurisdiction over the Sky Ride.

 

He said that they had been in touch with park managers “but at this point it looks like a police investigation”.

 

The horrifying incident “doesn’t appear to involve a malfunction of a mechanical, electrical or structural component,” he added.