Texas-Based Schlitterbahn Water Park Company To Destroy Kansas Ride Where Boy Was Killed

NEW BRAUNFELS, TX — Officials of New Braunfels-based Schlitterbahn, a waterpark amusement company, said Tuesday they would demolish a 168-foot water slide in Kansas where a ten-year-old boy was killed last summer.

The family-owned Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts said in a statement the ride named "Verrückt" at the Schlitterbahn park in Kansas City, Kansas, will eventually be torn down. Seventeen stories high, the ride has been closed to the public since Caleb Thomas Schwab was killed this past August while visiting the park with his family.

The boy was killed as a result of a fatal neck injury, police said at the time. Two other riders in the same raft the boy was in were injured during on the ride over the summer.

“All of us at Schlitterbahn have been heartbroken over the tragedy that occurred on Verrückt," Schlitterbahn officials said in their statement. "In our 50 years of providing an environment for families and friends to gather, we’ve never experienced this kind of devastating event. The safety of our staff and our guests is our top priority. We are parents and grandparents ourselves and many of us have ridden Verrückt with our own children and grandchildren over the years it operated."

But the demolition won't occur immediately, officials noted, but until the investigation into the accident is completed: “Once the investigation is concluded and we are given permission by the court, Verrückt will be decommissioned — closed permanently and the slide removed from the tower. In our opinion, it is the only proper course of action following this tragedy. We will, at some point in the future, announce what will be built in its place.”

The German word "Verrückt" is translated into English as "insane." The German names associated with the park are a nod to the Germanic roots of its headquarters Texas city.

Schlitterbahn is a family-owned and operated company based in New Braunfels, located 34 miles north of San Antonio. The company launched its first water park in 1979, and has since constructed three more water parks in Texas and another in Kansas City, Kansas.

"We are saddened to share that a young boy died on Verrückt this afternoon," Kansas City Schlitterbahn park operators wrote in a statement on Aug. 7. "Given that safety is our first priority, we have closed the Kansas City park today and Monday and have closed the ride pending a full investigation. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time."

In a report in the Kansas City Starnewspaper following the tragedy, physics and engineering experts questioned the wisdom of park officials placing lighter passengers toward the front of the ride's rafts, while placing heavier individuals in the back portion. The report detailed that the three people riding raft the boy was in weighed a combined 545 lbs., including the victim's weight of 73 lbs.

Police said the boy sat in the front seat of the raft, while a woman weighing 197 lbs. and another weighing 275 lbs. occupied the next two seats.

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