The Oktoberfest Pond Tragedy:
At approximately 8:30 in the evening, Timothy Benning (22)entered the park's pond located next to the Octoberfest Beir Garden to, apparently, retrieve a lost item. Upon entering the restricted area he was shocked due to an electrical current (later determined to be coming from a defective water circulation pump.) When he screamed and fell unconscious in the shallow water, his friend William Haithcoat (20) jumped in to pull him out. Immediately Haithcoat was shocked. Upon hearing the screams a park security officer, Darrel Robertson (20) jumped in attempting to help and was also shocked. Ironically the rescuers... Haithcoat and Robertson died, but Benning survived. The Octoberfest area of the park was emptied immediately, and closed off. Helicopters landed in the park to life-flight the victims to the hospital. They were undergoing CPR when they left.
Timothy Binning (22)took his buddy William Haithcoat (21)to Kings Island as his guest at the Ameritrust employee picnic. It is not completely clear what happened, except that at around 8:30pm, for reasons which are unknown, Binning entered the water of the pond surrounding the Bier Garten. (it is believed that he entered to retrieve a dropped souvenir, but this cannot be confirmed. He felt an electrical shock, which apparently knocked him face-down in the pond and left him unable to get back up.
Noticing that his friend was in trouble, Haithcoat jumped in to try and rescue Binning from the shallow water. He too received an electrical shock.
Meanwhile, 20-year-old Kings Island security guard Darrell Robertson was walking down the boardwalk and noticed trouble. He jumped into the shallow pond in an effort to save both men, but also received an electrical shock. Apparently, a child was screaming by now about someone drowning in the pond, which prompted Howard Heath, 31, and two others to the site of the incident. Heath touched the water, but by now the circuit breaker had apparently tripped, because he felt no electric current. Heath and one of the other two men pulled Robertson and Haithcoat from the water. Heath's girlfriend, Paula Earls, a 27-year-old nurse from Indianapolis, administered CPR on the victims as they were pulled from the pond.
Binning was face-down and submerged at this point, so Heath and the other rescuer held the ankles of a third man, who pulled Binning out of the pond. Each of the victims began to breathe again before being taken away by emergency personnel. Binning was taken to Bethesda hospital, where he recovered and was released in a couple of days. Robertson and Haithcoat were taken to the University of Cincinnati medical center, where they were both pronounced dead at about 10:00pm. The official cause of death was electrochoution. The resulting investigation identified a defective submerged aerator pump, used to circulate the pond water and inhibit algae growth, as the cause of the electrical shocks. OSHA also fined Kings Island $23,500 for various violations relating to the accident including bad electrical grounds, improper circuit breakers, and improper railings around the pond.
The Flight Commander Incident:
One hour and fifteen minutes after the incident at the Oktoberfest Pond, tragedy again struck. Candy Taylor, a 5-foot-5-inch tall 32-year-old mother of two was visiting Kings Island with two friends, Gary Oakley and Doreen Rassmussen, from a truck-driving school, where Taylor was a student. They had been at the park all day, "sipping beers" and riding almost every ride in the park. Oakley and Rassmussen rode the Flight Commander while Taylor finished her beer. When Oakley and Rassmussen's ride was finished, Taylor boarded the Flight Commander, an Intamin "Flight Trainer" ride. Witnesses indicated she showed no outward signs of intoxication, though her autopsy would show a blood alcohol content of 0.30, which is three times the limit allowed for motor vehicle operators in Ohio.
Taylor entered the #4 tub on the ride, and closed the shoulder harness and lap bar. Ride attendants checked both bars to insure that they were properly locked, and the ride began its cycle. Witnesses claim that the ride made four full rotations and Taylor's tub made no maneuvers. Then, it performed a slow roll to the left, rolling through two rotations. On the second rotation, Taylor fell from the capsule, striking the ground head first. She was rushed to Miami Valley Hospital, where she was pronounced dead of multiple body trauma at 10:34 pm.
According to the Department of Agriculture investigators, Taylor was probably unconscious, probably with a leg against the joystick in the middle of the seat causing the capsule to roll. State investigators believe that during the roll, Taylor slipped from her seat, over the divider, and into the vacant seat, out from under the restraints. Representatives of Intamin claimed that was impossible, but ride inspectors were able to demonstrate how it could happen if a solo rider were riding in a capsule with the restraints open on the vacant seat. Careful examination of the ride ruled out any mechanical failure; the State of Ohio ruled that the ride suffered from a design flaw, and noted that improvements would be required before the ride could operate again. The state did not specify what changes had to be made, but did suggest either a higher seat divider or a seat belt.
At one point, attorneys for Taylor's estate wondered if an optional clear plastic cover over the capsule would have prevented her from falling from the ride, but park officials noted that the covers...which Kings Island did not install...were designed to restrain falling objects (keys, cameras, wallets, etc) and would not be able to stop a falling body.
The ride was closed for the remainder of 1991, and re-opened in 1992. The aftermath was to install a higher seat divider in the tub, and to put a guard around the joystick so you had to operate it with your hands, it could no longer be bumped by legs. By then though the ride already had a stigma, and after several years of catering to very small ridership, was removed after a few years. A Eurobungy sits on its site.
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