CINCINNATI (AP) -- Paramount Parks closed seven rides at five North American amusement parks after fatal accidents this week on two types of rides: a standup roller coaster and a free-fall ride called the Drop Zone.
All three of the roller coasters were to reopen Thursday night, but the other rides will remain closed indefinitely, Paramount spokesman Susan Lomax said Wednesday.The closings followed an accident Sunday that killed a 12-year-old boy on the Drop Zone at Paramount's Great America park in Santa Clara, Calif., and a roller coaster accident Monday at Paramount's Kings Dominion park near Richmond, Va. Timothy Fan, 20, was killed.
"We are reopening the standup roller coasters because our investigation of the accident at Kings Dominion showed that it was the result of rider misconduct," Lomax said. "The ride and the safety restraints were operating as designed and intended."
Gary Tomei, a lawyer for Fan's family, said he doesn't see how a ride can be safe if someone falls from it while it's moving.
"As far as I am concerned, once they have locked you in that machine, you're not supposed to get out unless you're Houdini," he said.
The other standup roller coasters to be reopened are King Cobra at Kings Island and Skyrider at Paramount Canada's Wonderland in Toronto.
The other closed rides are the Drop Zone rides at Paramount's Carowinds in Charlotte, N.C., Paramount's Kings Island near Cincinnati and the Toronto park.