justme1
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Jodi
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ANOTHER death at Adventureland
A Far Rockaway woman died Thursday after being thrown from a twirling, high-speed ride at Adventureland, the second person in three days killed by a ride at the Farmingdale amusement park.
Less than 48 hours after an an employee was run over by a string of roller coaster cars, Barbara Brady, 45, was hurled from her seat on the TopScan ride. Her body was thrown over a 20-foot wall on the northern edge of the park and landed on the windshield of a car in an adjacent parking lot.
Brady was taken to Middle Island Hospital Medical Center and pronounced dead there, Homicide Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick said.
"The two accidents really are not connected ... other than a tragic coincidence," Fitzpatrick said.
A visibly shaken Paul Gentile, director of operations at the park, said he was cooperating fully with investigators.
"In our 43-year history at Adventureland, we have always delivered a safe and wonderful park to our many guests," Gentile read from a prepared statement. "We offer our heartfelt condolences to the family of the guests involved in today's incident." He declined comment beyond the statement.
Thursday's accident occurred about 12:40 p.m.
Brady, who was mentally disabled and resided at the Central Manor Home for Adults, went to the park with 24 other residents and five chaperones, Fitzpatrick said.
She took a seat on the TopScan beside one of her chaperones, along one of six arms of the ride, which extend outward at the top of a long, rising mechanical arm.
A horseshoe-shaped harness was lowered over her shoulders and around her chest, Fitzpatrick said. When Brady and the other riders were in place, a park employee told investigators, a green light illuminated inside the operator's booth and the employee turned the ride on.
Detectives haven't found any evidence of wrongdoing and are exploring possible mechanical failures on the ride.
Gentile said the TopScan had been inspected Thursday before the park opened for the day.
A Labor Department spokesman, Robert Lillpopp, said the park had a "fairly clean" safety record, with no recorded major accidents since it opened in 1962 until this week.
New investigations of the park were launched by the Labor Department and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration even before Thursday's death.
When Brady was thrown from her seat, the operator in the booth pushed an emergency brake, bringing the ride to an immediate stop.
"Initially, I don't think anybody knew where she was," said Renee Tassone, of Selden, who was standing nearby with her husband, Anthony, and their two young sons. "Everybody started yelling, 'Stop the ride! Stop the ride!'"
Panicked, the operator -- whom police declined to identify -- bolted from the booth, crying and convulsing with fear.
Renee Tassone said she tried to comfort him at a bench near the ride.
"He was hysterical," she said. "He just kept saying 'Oh my God, Oh my God, I think she's dead.'"
Added Anthony Tassone: "The ride was still up in the air, people were still on the ride."
An employee who identified herself only as Jessica, 17, was working at a tattoo booth a few feet away.
"Everything just got still," she said. "Other staff members started running over there."
Police do not believe the ride operator was responsible for the accident.
Fitzpatrick said investigators were told the harness was found in a closed position after Brady was ejected.
The death came on the heels of Tuesday's accident, when employee Stephen Gary, 18, slipped onto the tracks of the Lady Bug Coaster 15 minutes before the park was to close.
There were no passengers on the ride, but, inexplicably, Gary decided to give the coaster one more run. He landed face down on the tracks and the first car ran over his back, police said.
Homicide detectives shut down the TopScan, wrapped the ride with yellow police tape and ushered potential witnesses into a personnel office nearby for questioning.
The park remained open.
At 2:45 p.m., when Lisa Martin of Northport arrived with her three children, she paid $68.85 to an employee at the park entrance and was not told that someone had died on one of the rides.
"Nobody was telling people," said Martin, whose husband is a Newsday employee. "We were kind of appalled that they were admitting people without giving an explanation that something had happened."
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