World’s tallest waterslide to be demolished after boy died
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A company’s announcement that it will demolish its towering Kansas waterslide as soon as investigations into the death of a boy on the ride this summer have concluded was motivated by uncertainty among park patrons, not any pending legal settlements involving the accident, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts and the family that runs it said in a statement Tuesday that the “Verruckt” ride at the Schlitterbahn park in Kansas City, Kansas, will be permanently removed from its tower “once the investigation is concluded and we are given permission by the court.” The Texas-based company called the move “the only proper course of action.”
“Coming up on the holidays, this time of year, it’s something we’d like to set to rest,” company spokeswoman Winter Prosapio told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “When we’re allowed to take it down, we will take it down. We have no interest in having it up another hour.”
Billed as the world’s tallest waterslide, Verruckt has been closed since Caleb Thomas Schwab died on the ride Aug. 7. The boy was decapitated, someone familiar with the investigation previously told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because that person was not authorized to speak publicly about the boy’s death.
