Young girl thrown from ride at county fair, investigators find violations

DUBOIS COUNTY, Ind. (WFIE/Gray News) – A young girl was injured after she was thrown off a ride at a county fair in Indiana.

Officials said the girl was thrown from a ride at the Dubois County 4-H Fair on Monday night.

Fellow fair attendee Anna Deorto was on the “Rock and Roll” ride with the young girl when she was injured.

When Anna reached a seat with her siblings, she offered for the girl to ride with them so she wouldn’t have to ride alone.

So, the girl settled in with Anna and her siblings. But before they took off, Anna said the men operating the ride never checked their seat belts.

Once the ride started, Anna recalls what should’ve been fun turning to disaster.

“The ride starts, and we dip down, and then we went back up, dipped down again, went back up,” Anna recalls. “She flies out. She went headfirst. Like, her body just like, went, falling through with her head.”

Anna said after the girl was thrown, the ride continued operating.

“I’m holding on, like trying to get people’s attention, waving my arms,” Anna recalls. “‘Hey, she fell out. Stop the ride. You need to stop this ride. The seat belt is not latched. She fell out. She needs help.’”

Anna said the ride operators didn’t even check on the girl, with her having to get up and walk back to the ride entrance herself.

“She had to walk and exit, no questions asked to her if she was OK,” Anna said. “There were little kids at the gate saying ‘Is she OK? Did she actually fall out?’ I could just see the parents’ faces, mouths dropped and everything.”

Afterward, the girl and some adults approached who they believed was a ride official.

After they say the woman who they thought was in charge made some calls to the owner, the girl was told to “come back at 9:30 when the owner was going to be there.”

While an investigation is still going on, Anna believes there wasn’t nearly enough done for those involved.

“They didn’t really care at all. They didn’t care what happened. If they did care, they would’ve stopped the ride completely, made sure she was OK, and shut it down at least,” she said. “No, they just marked off that cart.”

The severity of the girl’s injuries is unclear.

Indiana Department of Homeland Security official David Hosick said an investigation revealed that the ride had violations.

A report from the department reads:

“The ride in question was found to have violations today following our onsite inspection. I do not have a list of those specific violations yet; however, the ride was ordered closed and is not permitted to operate in Indiana until the repairs are made. The owner has 30 days to comply, and the ride cannot be put back into service until it passes a compliance inspection by IDHS.”

The 4-H Council said they are doing their best to keep the community safe.

Officials said that all rides would be removed for the rest of the week but that other events would continue.

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