TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Something went horribly wrong after Eve Brock got on a ride at the Florida State Fair with her boyfriend’s 9-year-old son.
“It kind of goes side to side and then spinning (at the same time)” Brock said, describing the “Spin Out” ride on the State Fair’s Midway.
Brock said she feared for the worst Sunday afternoon when the centerpiece of the ride decorated with light bulbs became partially detached.
“It almost felt when we were riding it that the ride was falling down, which was really, really terrifying,” she said. “The way it was hinged, it came towards us, so I stuck my feet out to try to stop it from hitting us because I didn’t know how far it was gonna come back.”
Brock said only two other children were on the ride besides her and her boyfriend’s son.
She said she started yelling to shut down the ride, but it wasn’t until they started “hearing the (light) bulbs hit the metal floor of the ride” that “everybody was like ‘what the heck is happening?’”
Brock recalled looking down and seeing her boyfriend’s 6-year-old daughter while she waited nearly 20 minutes to get off the ride with two sprained ankles.
“As I was panic-attacking and she was looking up at me just sobbing her little eyes out,” she said. “She couldn’t do anything. She didn’t know what was going on.”
“The ride operator followed proper safety protocol and brought the ride down safely to its resting position,” said Frank Zaitshik, Wade Show Owner & Midway Manager for the Florida State Fair. “EMS was onsite, one person was evaluated and to our knowledge, there was no further treatment needed. Wagner Consultant Group, our third-party Ride Inspection Team, along with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, reinspected the ride and found it to be safe to return to operation.”
State regulators require that fair rides undergo daily inspections. These reports must be done prior to opening each day.
Brock said the fair paid for her emergency room visit and offered her free ride tickets.
“I’m never going to get on another amusement park ride at a fair now,” Brock said. “A roller coaster at a big park, probably, but still it was scary.”