BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A woman injured after an amusement park ride flipped over at Beech Bend Park is now taking legal action, saying ride operators didn’t do enough to keep riders safe.
Tonya Cooper was on the popular Jitterbug Swings on Saturday with her 9-year-old daughter when she heard loud cracking sound.
“I just started screaming, ‘Stop the ride, stop the ride!” she said.
About a dozen people were on the ride when it suddenly flipped over.
“Next thing I know, I’m dangling and I’m frantic because I can’t find my daughter and I can’t move and that was it. I heard the cracks, felt the wobble and I was slammed into the tower. I don’t know what happened. I just felt instant pain and knew my back was broken,” the 35-year-old said.
During the chaotic moments which followed Tonya tried to reach her daughter but couldn’t because of a chain wrapped around her leg.
“Probably one of the worst things I’ve ever been through in my life. You go to a park to have fun with your kids. You don’t think you’re going to leave with a broken back or it will traumatize your daughter for the rest of her life,” she said. .
Cooper filed a lawsuit Tuesday, claiming the operator of the popular Beech Bend ride left her post moments after the swings began turning. She also claimed too many riders were loaded onto one side of the ride making it more susceptible to flipping over.
“It could’ve been way worse people could’ve lost their lives and I just want to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” she said.
Her lawyer Brian Driver said he hopes the lawsuit sends a clear message to Beech Bend officials.
“We hope beech bend will have a better system of supervising and training employees. This certainly is a public safety issue.”
Investigators from the Kentucky Agricultural Department were working to determine how the ride flipped.
