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When a paying customer dies on a U.S. thrill ride, the patron's dead body is turned over to public authorities, taken apart, examined piece by piece, and documented in minute and intimate detail. The findings, in their entirety, become public record. Anyone who's interested for any reason can learn how much the dead patron weighed, his/her height, the condition of the arteries and major organs, whether there were any traces of drugs, alcohol, or medication in the blood, what the brain and heart and kidney's looked like, what disease processes were present in the dead patron's body, etc. In short, the government is expected to perform a detailed inspection of dead amusement park patrons, and make the results public.
By contrast, special laws need to be passed in order for the government to perform any kind of inspection of the machinery on which the paying customer died. My previous editorial covered this issue in relation to the mountain states, but the industry self-protection racket in Arizona and Colorado is child's play compared to Florida, homeland of Big Theme.
When a paying customer dies on a ride in a Florida theme park, the ride machinery cannot be examined by any public safety official without permission of the ride owner -- not under any conditions. Following the death of a paying customer on a Disney World ride, for example, the type of inspection, direction of inquiry, and level of detail are determined solely by the ride owner and are allowed to remain secret forever. The decision to re-open the ride is made solely by the ride owner. The results of the investigation are the private property of the ride owner. Evidence, findings, and reports cannot be viewed by anyone, including the victim's family, without permission of the ride owner or, in cases where a civil lawsuit is filed, a court order.
Five days ago, 4-year-old Daudi Bamuwamye lost consciousness on a Disney World ride called Mission: Space and died shortly thereafter. According to a lawsuit filed against Disney by the ride manufacturer, Entertainment Technology Corporation (ETC), Mission: Space is "a multiple-arm centrifuge which simulates the g-force load of space launch and reentry".
Disney World's website spins that description into a fantasy few kids could resist: "This ultimate interactive thrill-packed adventure is as close as you can get to blasting off into space without leaving Earth. Each member of your astronaut team has a challenging role in a dynamic and daring cosmic mission dodging meteors and navigating nebula. Feel the force of lift-off and have an exhilarating, mystical rendezvous on another planet."
Disney approved Mission: Space for use by riders as small as 44-inches, which corresponds to a minimum age of four and a half (95th percentile for height). Daudi was 46 inches tall and was riding with his mother at the time of his collapse. The preliminary inspection of the boy showed no sign of trauma and nothing obvious that would have caused his death. The data gathered during the medical examiner's inspection of the dead patron's body is still being analyzed. The final inspection report on Daudi is not expected for several weeks.
According to the manufacturer's complaint, Disney has refused to "allow ETC to participate in the safety testing and analysis" of Mission: Space even though the contract allocated that responsibility to the manufacturer. ETC claims they "specifically informed Mr. Eisner of the risks associated with preventing ETC's participation in the safety testing and analysis as contemplated by the Contract". Further, the complaint -- which was filed two years ago -- warns:
If ETC is prevented from using its years of experience with human centrifuge systems to participate in the safety testing and analysis as contemplated by the Contract, then there are increased risks of injury to the public at-large...
Four days after Daudi Bamuwamye died on Mission: Space, U.S. District Court Judge Herbert J. Hutton signed an order dismissing the safety inspection dispute from the lawsuit. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer:
In doing so, Hutton granted a request by Disney that said an inspection now by ETC "would be futile and totally unnecessary since the work already has been performed by [Disney] and the safety of the ride has been certified with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services."
It's worth noting that Disney defends the state regulatory exemption in Florida by saying that ride inspectors in the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services lack the qualifications to certify anything as complicated the rides at Disney World. In any case, Judge Hutton's order gives Disney a clean sweep in terms of self-protection. The manufacturer is prohibited by law from inspecting the ride or its records. So is the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. So is the federal government. The state of Florida allowed Disney to set up its own local government when Disney World was developed, so the emergency response crews also work for Disney.
It is quite possible that the coroner may be the only person looking at this who's not directly paid by Disney. And the coroner can't inspect the ride, only the dead body of poor little 4-year-old Daudi Bamuwamye.
