Weight and Water Slide

[Cachondo]

RIVIERA BEACH — An 11-year-old girl was hurt on a water slide at Rapids Water Park the day before an incident on a different slide sent a family of four to the hospital. In both cases, riders' weights are being eyed as causes.

But Harold Manners, whose daughter sustained bruises to her back in the first incident, says the park should examine potential riders more closely if their weight puts them at risk of injury. He also questioned why, if weight caused his daughter's injuries Tuesday, the Lenahan family wasn't stopped from riding the next day.

"I think that if they had made that determination, if there was a weight issue, they would be more careful and scrutinize and not let a family on that exceed it," said Manners, whose daughter Samantha was riding the Raging Rapids slide with her parents when their raft went airborne and slammed down on the slide, bruising her back. He and his wife, Frances, also had minor bruises.

"We were horrified when we heard what happened to the other family," Manners said. "We feel that the regulatory agency is taking this issue too lightly."

Samantha Manners spent six hours Tuesday at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach.

The next day, John D. Lenahan and his three children were taken to the hospital when a raft flipped over on them while they were riding the neighboring Black Thunder water slide. Black Thunder and Raging Rapids operate from the same tower.

"We came down really hard," Manners said. "In my opinion there was not sufficient water to cushion the force. When we got to the bottom, my daughter couldn't move."

Park spokeswoman Tina Hatcher said Saturday the Manners accident was the result of "patron error."

Both water slide rides have a weight maximum for each raft. They also have a weight maximum for each person in a raft, Hatcher said.

In the Manners incident, one of the family members may have exceeded the individual weight limit, Hatcher said. She did not know what that limit was for the Raging Rapids ride.

Manners said he weighs 276 pounds, his wife weighs 220 pounds and Samantha weighs 120 pounds.

Employees at the ride never said anything about their weight, and their combined weight did not exceed the posted limit, Manners said.

"For you to land hard would be a weight situation," Hatcher said.

Investigators found nothing wrong with the ride, she added. It was never shut down.

State investigators have said weight may have caused the Lenahan accident Wednesday. The family's combined weight exceeded the ride's posted 700-pound limit, investigators said.

John D. Lenahan was listed in good condition Saturday at Columbia Hospital. Two children and a teenager also injured on the ride have been treated and released.

The incident is still under investigation, Hatcher said. The fact that the two incidents happened on consecutive days was a coincidence, Hatcher said.

"You have hundreds of thousands of people who ride these rides every year," she said. "You have hundreds and hundreds of people who ride them every day without incident. These rides are extremely safe."

The Manners family lives in New York and was in West Palm Beach visiting relatives. The family visited the park twice during its vacation.

On July 20, Harold Manners rode the slide with his daughter without incident, he said. His wife, Frances, did not go to the park with them that day.

Manners said he does not plan to file a lawsuit.