Amusement Park Accident Victim Gets Help From a Celebrity

In 2010, Teagan Marti fell from an amusement park ride and suffered serious injuries. Marti, a 15 year old from Parkland, Florida, was injured in a theme park accident while visiting Extreme World in Wisconsin Dells in July of 2010. She fell from the ride, Terminal Velocity, while it was more than 100 feet in the air. There was a series of protective measures in place like nets and airbags that were meant to protect against such accidents, but these failed, and the teen fell more than ten stories. She suffered serious injuries to her spine, pelvis, and internal organs.

After the fall, Marti was described as appearing grey, unconscious, and bleeding from her eyes. She spent three months in the hospital and now must use a walker to get around as she has limited use of her legs.

Because of the extreme nature of these rides, the potential for devastating injury is substantial. Most rides end up being relatively safe when maintained and inspected regularly, but when something goes wrong, the potential price is significant.

In their lawsuit against the amusement park, the family said that investigators blamed the accident on an operator error and negligence of the amusement park. The family plans to seek compensation for the injuries that Teagan sustained. Because of financial strain, the family faces foreclosure on their home.

Teagan and her family are currently going through the process of finding and training a therapy dog to help Teagan with therapy and daily activities. Training a therapy dog costs around $6,000, and in a somewhat surprising turn of events, Teagan’s family has got some help paying for the cost of training the puppy. The actor Charlie Sheen has agreed to help the family pay for the training and has already wired them the sum of $10,000. A family friend contacted the actor and he agreed to help.

Trips to amusement parks are supposed to provide carefree fun, but these trips have the potential to end in tragedy instead. Bounce houses are another source of amusement park injuries. Bounce houses tend to attract younger children; the majority of those who were injured in bounce house accidents were between the ages of 6-12 and one third of those injured were younger than age 5. According to Dr. Gary Smith of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, bounce house injuries are on the rise. Over the course of 20 years, nearly 65,000 children have been treated in emergency rooms for bounce house injuries, and 55 percent of bounce house injuries have taken place between 2005 and 2010.

If you or your child has been injured at an amusement park, contact a personal injury attorney to discuss your options. Amusement park accidents are tragic, devastating, and in some cases may have been avoidable. If negligence contributed to the accident, the amusement park should be held responsible. Keeping children and families safe must be a priority. Contact a personal injury attorney for a case evaluation and your attorney can help you to obtain the compensation you need in order to recover and move forward.

photo credit: N0 Photoshop