A 7-year-old girl was tragically killed yesterday at Rye Playland while enjoying what apparently was one of her favorite rides, a park official said.
The unidentified child had spent all day riding the “Mind Scrambler” over and over, when one tragic turn on the spider-arm-shaped machine lead to her death at 6:45 p.m., an official at the Westchester County amusement park said.
“We don’t know exactly what happened yet, because it is being investigated by . . . police,” said park director Joe Montalto. “She did wind up outside the ride – we don’t know how.”
The Westchester County girl had visited the park with a group of people, but it was unclear who the adults in the group were.
“Apparently she liked the ride and she rode it many times during the day,” Montalto said.
The ride was immediately closed after the accident, but the park stayed open until 8:30, when it began to rain.
According to Rye Playland’s web site, patrons must be at least 4-feet-tall to ride the “Mind Scrambler,” which spins riders around in whirling 2-seat cars.
Montalto said the 7-year-old was unusually tall for her age and did meet the requirement.
“She was a very tall girl, everybody was surprised to find out she was seven,” he said.
The 76-year old park is one of America’s oldest and the only one which is government owned, according to the amusement park Web site coasterglobe.com.
It has not had a serious accident on one of its rides in its history, Montalto said.
“I’m spending my time here tonight arranging counseling for my employees,” said Montalto, “Everybody is so upset just to think about the loss of a life, and the loss of a child’s life is just very devastating to us. We work very hard here to make sure this place is safe. We’re all pretty blown away by this.”
Earlier this month, Stanley Mordarsky, a 55-year-old man from Connecticut with cerebral palsy, was killed when he was flung from the “Superman Ride of Steel” roller coaster at the Six Flags New England amusement park in Agawam, Mass.