A documentary has taken a deep dive into the tragic circumstances that led to the death of a 10-year-old on the ‘world’s tallest water slide’.
The Verrückt, which was based inside the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, claimed the title of the world’s highest water slide, standing at almost 170 ft-tall and sending riders hurtling down at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour.
The Verrückt, translated from German as 'Insane', saw riders drop down the near-vertical 17-storey chute - making it a firm favourite with thrill-seekers.
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However, the record-breaking attraction was the scene of a tragedy when 10-year-old Caleb Schwab was horrifically killed.
On 7 August 2016, Caleb was on the ride when the raft he was on went airborne and hit a metal pole supporting a safety net.
It resulted in the child's decapitation and instant death.
In a documentary uploaded to YouTube back in 2019, The Atlantic set out to explore just what went wrong to cause such an event, which has continued to shock the nation for seven years now.
The short film was made by Missouri filmmaker, Nathan Truesdell, who first heard about the incident on the news.
"My first thought was that it must have been a freak accident—what a horrible, horrible story," he told The Atlantic.
"But once I took a closer look, I started to realise how complicated this story really was, and how this could have happened to anyone who went down that slide."
The deathly ride first came about in 2012 when Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry teamed forces with senior designer John Schooley to construct the Verrückt in hopes to secure a Guinness World Record.
The documentary titled, The Water Slide, explained that the devastating ordeal happened due to 'gross negligence, lax state regulations, and the consequences of hubris'.
Truesdell stated: "There wasn't a lot of science or ride engineering involved in the testing and design.
"They were sending sandbags down and basically hoping that they didn't fly off of the slide. The netting that ultimately ended up killing the child was added to prevent the rafts from flying off of the slide completely."
Both Henry and Schooley were subsequently indicted on 'charges of aggravated battery, aggravated endangerment of a child, interference with law enforcement, and involuntary manslaughter' following Caleb's untimely death.
However, the pair, who had allegedly skipped 'fundamental steps in the design process' and relied 'almost entirely on crude trial-and-error methods' in regards to safety testing, were later dismissed of the charges.
The Schlitterbahn Water Park was shut down and the Verrückt was completely demolished.
Topics: TV and Film, US News, Documentaries
Claire Reid