Sizzler seat belts ordered after 2 boys hurt on ride

By Shaun Sutner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

State public safety officials yesterday ordered the four amusement companies licensed to run Sizzler carnival rides in Massachusetts to install seat belts on the whirling devices before they run them here.

The move came in response to a directive from the ride manufacturer issued after a 6-year-old boy and his 7-year-old brother were ejected from a Sizzler at a Kentucky county fair July 25 when the ride’s lap bar lifted while the ride spun.

Wisdom Industries of Colorado issued the safety bulletin Aug. 1, saying the ride can be used safely without belts but that the recommended change is “to continue to prevent incidents from occurring.”

The only Sizzler operating in Massachusetts is on Martha’s Vineyard, in a carnival run by Cushing Amusements.

Another Sizzler, owned by Rockwell Amusements, which stages a carnival each spring in downtown Worcester, is scheduled to open in Northampton Aug. 31. Another of the rides is owned by Reithoffer Shows, which is not scheduled to be back in the state this fall. The fourth one, run by Bourget Amusements, does not have a Sizzler on its remaining itinerary here, according to state officials.

Under Massachusetts amusement regulations that were revamped after a 38-year-old man was thrown to his death from a Sizzler at a Shrewsbury church fair in 2004, any time a manufacturer recommends or suggests a change in a safety bulletin, carnivals registered in the state are required to modify their rides.

Public Safety Commissioner Thomas G. Gatzunis applauded Wisdom Industries’ move, and he said no Sizzler would be allowed to run here until state inspectors have checked it to make sure it has the seat belts.

“This is a secondary restraint system,” Mr. Gatzunis said. “Currently, Sizzlers only have a single restraint system, the lap bar.”

Mr. Gatzunis said he did not think, however, that a seat belt would have saved Andrew R. Fohlin, 38, who was killed on the Sizzler in Shrewsbury on Sept. 19, 2004, when faulty bolts gave way and caused his seating compartment to come apart and pitched him and a surviving passenger to the ground.

A supervisor for the carnival company, Jaro Amusements, pleaded guilty to manslaughter last year in connection with the accident and was sentenced to 2-1/2 years’ probation.

“That tragedy was such that the catastrophic failure of the car caused the death of Mr. Fohlin,” Mr. Gatzunis said.

Sylvia R. Fohlin of Lexington, a sister of Mr. Fohlin, also hailed the change as a safety improvement. Ms. Fohlin and her five siblings are suing Wisdom Industries, Jaro Amusements, a private inspector and others for allegedly causing the accident.

“I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t have safety belts on a spinning ride,” Ms. Fohlin said. “You can never have too many safety features.”

The change is overdue, said Kenneth R. Martin, an amusement safety consultant in Virginia.

Mr. Martin, who noted that the similar Scrambler ride had seat belts installed several years ago, said more safety issues on the ride still need to be addressed, such as setting stricter age and size requirements for a ride that he said is really intended for teenagers and adults.

Since 1991, Sizzlers have had at least 11 incidents that caused death or serious injury to riders, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which oversees traveling carnivals.

“I am so thankful they’ve done it, because I’m thinking of all the people who have been killed on this ride,” Mr. Martin said.

Gregory Chiecko, spokesman for the New England Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, whose board includes John J. Keough, owner of Jaro Amusements, said he had no problem with Wisdom Industries’ bulletin.

“Several rides have seat belts on them,” he said. “I don’t think this is anything other than putting in another precaution.”

In the bulletin, Wisdom Industries says the belts are easy to install and use.

Contact Shaun Sutner by e-mail at ssutner@telegram.com.

March 16, 2006

By Shaun Sutner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
ssutner@telegram.com

WORCESTER— A carnival manager pleaded guilty yesterday to manslaughter and was sentenced to 2-1/2 years probation for causing the death of Andrew R. Fohlin, 38, on a Sizzler amusement ride at a Shrewsbury church festival on Sept. 19, 2004.

With his plea, Brian R. McCullough, 40, of Hernando, Fla., a lifelong carnival worker with an eighth-grade education, admitted he failed to properly repair the 25-year-old ride, a centrifuge-like device that flung Mr. Fohlin to the parking lot pavement when his seating compartment broke apart.

In an emotional victim-impact statement, Mr. Fohlin’s older sister, Sylvia R. Fohlin of Medford, recalled her brother “Drew” as a vibrant adult who, though mentally retarded, was a devoted fan of the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots, collected hats and loved to attend family gatherings.

Ms. Fohlin, who has become an outspoken amusement safety advocate, said the company that employed Mr. McCullough, Jaro Amusements of Carlisle, was also responsible for the ride’s failure. Jaro was not charged in the June 17 indictment of Mr. McCullough.

“When we learned the true nature of the events that caused Drew’s death, we were outraged. It was hard to even call his death an accident,” Ms. Fohlin said. “Given the gross negligence of the ride’s maintenance, this was bound to have happened to someone at some time.

“So, although Mr. McCullough is the individual who has been indicted and is now pleading guilty, we cannot fully feel that Drew has received justice,” she continued. “Mr. McCullough is not alone in responsibility. He worked for a company that not only tolerated such recklessness, but engendered it.”

Paul F. Cavanaugh, a lawyer for Jaro and its owner, John J. Keough, declined to respond to Ms. Fohlin’s allegation. Mr. Cavanaugh also declined to say whether Jaro had paid Mr. McCullough’s legal bills, referring a reporter to Mr. McCullough’s lawyer, Howard S. Cooper. Mr. Cooper, citing attorney-client privilege, also would not say who financed the long defense effort.

The prosecution’s case was based in part on the grand jury testimony of a carnival worker who said Mr. McCullough refused to let him install the right bolt to secure the seat to the ride’s frame. State investigators and prosecutors said the ride failed when an undersized bolt and an altered bolt snapped and a loose lap bar nut gave way.

Besides triggering a criminal case — the first ever in Massachusetts stemming from an amusement fatality — the carnival ride death sparked a major overhaul of the state’s amusement inspection system, which public safety officials conceded had been in disarray.

While the plea agreement with prosecutors averted a trial, lawyers for Mr. Fohlin’s family said they would soon file a civil suit against Jaro, its insurance company and the private inspectors hired to examine the ride.

District Attorney John J. Conte said he was satisfied with the outcome, even though Superior Court Judge John S. McCann did not go along with prosecutors’ recommendation that Mr. McCullough be given a 2-1/2-year jail sentence. The judge instead agreed with the defense’s request for straight probation.

“This case really fits into that category of rare cases where a tragic death brought about significant changes,” Mr. Conte said. “The carnival industry is now supervised to a greater extent than it’s ever been.”

William G. Childs, a law professor at Western New England School of Law in Springfield and an amusement law specialist, said the case should have an impact on the nation’s amusement industry, which he said has seen more criminal prosecutions in recent years.

“It’s one of these cases where they’ve gotten the charges to stick, where the defense lawyer thought it was best not to go to trial,” Mr. Childs said.

Other observers said privately that Mr. Conte may have opted for a plea bargain because his key witness and others from the rough-and-tumble carnival world may have had trouble under tough cross-examination.

Mr. McCullough did not comment in court other than terse answers to the judge’s questions. Outside the courtroom, he said only: “I am very glad this is over, and my heart goes out to the family.”

But Mr. Cooper, while acknowledging Mr. McCullough’s negligence, also blamed state officials in the Department of Public Safety, who conceded after Mr. Fohlin’s death that they had never formally inspected the ride.

“There are a number of people and institutions that failed,” Mr. Cooper told the judge. “These people range from state officials to people in the insurance industry to carnival people.”

Judge McCann appeared to agree, noting that others, including state officials, might bear responsibility. He also said Mr. McCullough’s lack of a criminal record was a factor in not sentencing him to jail.

State Public Safety Commissioner Thomas G. Gatzunis rejected the notion that the state was at fault. Ms. Fohlin also praised the agency’s efforts to determine the cause of the ride’s failure.

“I don’t understand how this could have been caused by our agency when this was caused by the mechanic’s deliberate act,” Mr. Gatzunis said. “To blame anyone other than the person who committed the deliberate act is inappropriate.”

Mr. Gatzunis also said that even if an agency inspector had examined the ride, he would not have looked inside the frame that housed the bolts. DPS officials said that was the responsibility of private inspectors who worked for Jaro’s insurer, T.H.E. Insurance Co. of Treasure Island, Fla.

Michael Hupalo, owner of MAH Consulting of Zephyr Hills, Fla., which inspected the Sizzler on March 24, 2004, defended the work of his inspection subcontractor, Anthony Rossi of New Jersey.

“Neither I nor any employee of our company was there (at the time of Mr. Fohlin’s death at the St. Mary’s Parish fair in Shrewsbury),” Mr. Hupalo said. “The inspection did take place six or nine months earlier.”

Mr. Rossi, he said, has “a reputation of being a thorough and knowledgeable inspector.”

Under probation terms, Mr. McCullough must report regularly to Massachusetts probation officials. If he violates probation, a judge here can sentence him to prison for any term up to the maximum sentence for manslaughter of 20 years.

Judge McCann allowed Mr. McCullough to travel to his home in Florida and work in New England, but Mr. McCullough was required to waive extradition.

Contact Shaun Sutner at ssutner@telegram.com.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Wife of Sizzler defendant allegedly pressured witness

By Shaun Sutner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER— A key witness in the case against Brian R. McCullough, a carnival maintenance supervisor charged with manslaughter in the 2004 death of Andrew R. Fohlin on a Sizzler amusement ride, was pressured by the defendant’s wife to recant his story, a prosecutor said in court yesterday.

Laurie McCullough, Mr. McCullough’s wife, was with Richard Cruz, the carnival employee who testified to a grand jury that Mr. McCullough’s alleged negligence caused the ride to break apart, when a state police detective delivered a subpoena to him in April, Assistant District Attorney Richard L. Greco said. At that time, Mr. Cruz told the trooper he invented his allegation.

Later, Mrs. McCullough drove Mr. Cruz to a grand jury session during which he stuck to his original statement to police that Mr. McCullough refused to install the right bolt in the whirling ride. That contributed to the device breaking apart and flinging Mr. Fohlin to his death, the prosecution alleges.

“It was not coincidental that the defendant’s wife was present,” Mr. Greco told Superior Court Judge Frances McIntyre yesterday. “It’s pretty obvious just in context that (Mr. Cruz’s alleged recantation) contains lies. There’s an inference that influence was being brought to bear on Mr. Cruz.”

Mr. McCullough’s lawyer, Howard M. Cooper, last month asked Judge McIntyre to throw out the case because prosecutors did not tell the grand jurors that Mr. Cruz had retracted his statement.

Yesterday, Mr. Cooper repeated that argument and also said that the case should be dismissed because the prosecution allegedly did not demonstrate to the grand jury the specific cause of the ride’s failure, and that others beside Mr. McCullough were responsible for repairing the Sizzler.

The state Department of Public Safety, in particular, should have inspected the bolts, but did not, Mr. Cooper said. State public safety officials have acknowledged they did not inspect the ride, but maintained that it was the job of private insurance inspectors to examine bolts.

“The recantation by Mr. Cruz was so critical to the grand jury. The commonwealth knowingly withheld from the grand jury a statement to Trooper (Thomas J.) Poirier that he had made the entire story up because he was mad at Mr. McCullough for firing him,” Mr. Cooper said. “There is no evidence whatsoever that anyone pressured anyone to say anything.”

Judge McIntyre said she could rule on the defense motion to dismiss on Jan. 16.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Doubt cast on testimony about Sizzler

By Shaun Sutner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER— Saying a key witness recanted testimony against him, the amusement company manager accused of recklessly causing a death last year on a carnival ride in Shrewsbury asked a judge yesterday to dismiss the manslaughter charge he is facing.

A lawyer for Brian R. McCullough, 39, of Hernando, Fla., has filed a motion in Worcester Superior Court claiming that prosecutors knowingly withheld from the grand jury that indicted Mr. McCullough last spring a statement by witness Richard Cruz that would clear Mr. McCullough.

The witness, Richard Cruz, a ride operator who worked under Mr. McCullough for Jaro Amusements of Carlisle, told a state police detective that he made up a story about Mr. McCullough failing to properly bolt a seat on the Sizzler ride three months before the Sept. 19, 2004, incident that killed Andrew R. Fohlin, 38, at a Shrewsbury church festival. Mr. Cruz said he concocted the account because of an earlier run-in with his boss.

“The grand jury never heard that Mr. Cruz made this statement to law enforcement,” the defendant’s lawyer, Howard M. Cooper, said in the motion. “Instead, Mr. Cruz was allowed to testify before the grand jury about Mr. McCullough’s alleged failure to maintain a bolt on the Sizzler as though Mr. Cruz had never contradicted himself in any manner.”

Mr. Cruz later told the grand jury that Mr. McCullough refused to let him install the right bolt — and threatened to lock him out of the carnival’s trailer park that night — even though Mr. McCullough knew the seat frame on the whirling ride’s seat number 6 was not bolted tightly.

Mr. Cruz, also from Hernando, testified that he disassembled the seat, and, at Mr. McCullough’s direction, found an old nut from a generator. Mr. McCullough installed the part, but it didn’t fit, Mr. Cruz said.

“He just put the nut (in) and called it for the night,” Mr. Cruz said, according to the grand jury minutes. “We put the seat back on.”

Also revealed in court documents for the first time was testimony from workers and people who rode the Sizzler and attended the carnival that Mr. Fohlin’s seating compartment was broken days before the accident. Witnesses said Jaro employees put the seat back in service and allowed Mr. Fohlin, a resident of a state home for the mentally retarded, and another retarded man, to climb into it.

Mr. Fohlin and David Mills, 49, who was seriously injured, were thrown to the parking lot pavement when the compartment disintegrated. State public safety investigators determined that the malfunction was caused when an improperly replaced lap bar nut that did not meet manufacturer’s specifications loosened, a front bolt with its head removed let go, and an undersized rear bolt sheared off.

The grand jury also heard testimony from Hector Santiago, a Jaro employee who had been with the company for two or three weeks and was running the ride when it came apart and ejected Mr. Fohlin and Mr. Mills.

Mr. Santiago said he had received a weekend’s worth of training a few weeks before the accident, from another employee known as “Lurch.”

He testified that he saw the seating compartment folded up and out of service on Saturday, Sept. 18, the day before Mr. Fohlin died. The next day, he noticed that the seat was no longer folded up. He said he asked Mr. McCullough if the ride was safe to run, and Mr. McCullough replied: “Oh yeah. Go ahead, run it. It’s safe.”

On April 11, three days before Mr. Cruz, 36, first testified before the grand jury, he told the trooper that he invented the story because he was mad at Mr. McCullough for firing him in June 2004 after Mr. Cruz allegedly assaulted his own girlfriend, according to a motion filed by Mr. Cooper.

In court yesterday, Assistant District Attorney Richard L. Greco, told Judge Frances McIntyre that the prosecution would respond to the motion to dismiss by Dec. 8, when a hearing on the motion is scheduled.

Mr. Greco also said the state is seeking more information from an expert witness as part of its case against Mr. McCullough.

Also yesterday, Judge McIntyre turned down a request by Mr. Cooper for Mr. McCullough to be able to stay in Florida for the Dec. 8 session. She ruled that Mr. McCullough must attend.

In Mr. Cruz’s statement to Trooper Thomas J. Poirier, the self-described illiterate ride operator said he “made up the story on the spot” when the detective interviewed him in Florida on Jan. 5 as part of Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte’s criminal investigation of the Sizzler malfunction.

When he spoke with the trooper, Mr. Cruz was accompanied by Mr. McCullough’s wife, Laurie McCullough, a Jaro game operator, and her daughter, according to the detective’s report.

After Mr. Cruz apparently recanted during the April 11 interview with Trooper Poirier in Fall River, the trooper advised him that he would be required to give grand jury testimony and that he should be sure to tell the truth to avoid perjury.

Trooper Poirier also noted that Ms. McCullough told him that she knew there was not a problem with the Sizzler because it would have been noted in Jaro’s daily inspection logs.

She also said her husband “would not have gone through all that work, taking the seat apart with Cruz, just to fix a bolt,” according to the trooper’s report.

“Brian is too lazy,” she added. “If it involved work, Brian would not do it.”

Mr. and Mrs. McCullough were in court yesterday. Both declined to comment after the pretrial conference.

Mark E. Noonan, Mr. Cruz’s lawyer, also declined to comment. Mr. Conte, the district attorney, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

In his filing, Mr. Cooper also argued that the case should be dismissed because the state has failed to prove a link between Mr. McCullough’s alleged negligence and the malfunction that killed Mr. Fohlin.

He claimed that the prosecution’s sole expert witness, a mechanical engineering professor from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, testified that there were at least three distinct possible causes for the accident, and the “issue of causation was left as a matter of outright speculation for the grand jury.”

In addition to Mr. Cruz and the professor, Richard Dean Sisson Jr., the grand jury heard testimony from Trooper Poirier; five other Jaro employees including Mr. McCullough and President John J. Keough; and three carnival employees of New Hampshire-based Fiesta Shows, who corroborated Mr. Cruz’s testimony.

Several teenagers and parents who were at the carnival over the Sept. 19-20 weekend also testified.

November 16, 2005

I wasn't putting no customer in it'

Author: Shaun Sutner Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

Grand jury testimony from Richard Cruz, a former carnival ride operator for Jaro Amusements. Mr. Cruz is describing an exchange about three months before the accident:

"I informed the maintenance guy, Brian McCullough, that one of the cars was wobbly and the lap bar was coming undone, and he said `Well, when we get to Mansfield we fix it.'"

"So I had to close that car down. I wasn't putting no customer in it."

Testimony from Randall Joseph Parent, maintenance manager for Fiesta Shows of New Hampshire, where Mr. Cruz went to work after being fired from Jaro. Mr. Parent testified that Mr. Cruz told him about the allegedly defective Sizzler seating compartment after learning of the fatal accident.

"He was just very adamant that he didn't want to get blamed for putting the bolt in - you know, because he's just the ride operator."

Expert witness testimony of Richard Dean Sisson, professor of mechanical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Mr. Sisson, who examined parts of the ride with an electron microscope, testified for the prosecution about mechanical problems with the Sizzler. Assistant District Attorney Richard L. Greco had asked him whether a bolt that had sheared off had broken off on the day of the accident, and why it happened.

"No, sir. You can actually clearly see the corrosion there. This would have taken a significant period of time to occur, depending on the weather and the humidity and - it's hard to put an exact time on it, but it's weeks before, probably."

Testimony of Demetrius Hanley, a Jaro ride operator who ran the Sizzler.

Mr. Greco, the prosecutor, asked him whether Jaro had put tape on the defective seat or anything other than folding down the seat to keep people out.

"No, they didn't."

From notes of state police detective Thomas Poirier based on verbal statements to him by witnesses. Jaro owner John J. Keough told him that neither Mr. McCullough nor a previous maintenance supervisor had ever changed the nut or bolt on the car in question, number 6.

Also, "Jaro does not require any formal training of his ride operators," Mr. Keough told Trooper Poirier.

Mr. McCullough, in his statement to the trooper, said: "I have never replaced any bolts on the ride."

From Trooper Poirier's notes of statements to him by accident witnesses and teenagers who rode the Sizzler at St. Mary Parish in Shrewsbury.

A 14-year-old Shrewsbury girl who rode the Sizzler with friends the Friday before the accident described people getting into compartment number 6, the burgundy red car in which Mr. Fohlin and David Mills, 49, who was seriously injured, rode:

"As we were waiting in line, we were about to go through the gate, and they stopped us. I guess the ride was full.

"I watched the people searching for seats, and a woman and her daughter came out of the red car. They returned to the front of the line and stood in front of me. She said that she had to wait for the next ride.

"Then I saw a teenage boy and girl get into the red car that the lady just got out of. The ride started, and the lady saw the teenagers on the car, and said `Hey, look. The guy let them on the ride, but not us.' I saw the ride operator motion to them to get out of the car and say something like it was not working or something."

September 11, 2005

Aftermath of Sizzler death - a legacy of improved safety -
A year after carnival ride fatality, sweeping overhauls, strict regulations

Author: Shaun Sutner Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

 Much has changed since Andrew R. Fohlin died on a carnival ride at a Shrewsbury church fair nearly a year ago.

The Sept. 19, 2004, incident focused a spotlight on the safety of portable amusement rides, and officials in Massachusetts responded with dramatic regulatory improvements that have made the state a leader in minimizing carnival hazards, safety advocates say.

"What happened in Massachusetts is they had a couple of incidents that raised concern in different areas, and each time there seemed to be a great combination of political will, strong leadership and funding," said Kathleen Fackler, a California amusement safety activist who runs the Saferparks.org Web site. "They may have been controversial from an industry standpoint but they were welcome from a consumer point of view."

State public safety officials were able to push through "a quantum change in regulations and that's a huge change in a short amount of time," Ms. Fackler added.

Drew Fohlin's death on a rotating Sizzler ride was followed by another fatal accident, the death of a 24-year-old woman who fell off an inflatable climbing wall at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield May 22.

The second death added even more fuel to state Public Safety Commissioner Thomas G. Gatzunis' drive to revamp his agency's amusement inspection system, which he acknowledged had previously been plagued by chaotic record-keeping, vague regulations, erratic inspections and too few inspectors.

He asked state lawmakers for more than $500,000 to hire more inspectors for the Department of Public Safety, which oversees amusement rides in addition to buildings, elevators and boilers.

Legislators responded by approving nearly all of the money. The department is now in the process of hiring four more amusement inspectors and supervisors, which will double the staff qualified to examine carnival rides and those at fixed amusement parks such as Six Flags in Agawam.

Mr. Gatzunis has cracked down not only on carnivals but also on companies that rent out inflatable kiddie rides. Teams of inspectors are dispatched each week to carnival sites throughout the state.

He pledged to have every ride inspected at setup. By all accounts, he and his staff have followed through.

They have performed more than 2,020 inspections since the spring, compared to about 50 in 2004 before Mr. Fohlin was killed.

"A year and a half ago, amusement inspections were catch as catch can," Mr. Gatzunis said. "Now we're doing inspections at every location, every set-up. It's forced the industry to maintain their devices. If they don't, they can't operate."

Inspectors closed four rides at a Millbury fair over the Fourth of July weekend and shut down two popular attractions at Six Flags, two examples of the approximately 30 instances in which the state has clamped down on substandard rides since the start of the season in March.

Since the spring, DPS inspectors have flagged hundreds of safety violations at carnivals across the state, ranging from missing parts to incomplete maintenance records. Most of the problems were remedied fairly quickly and the rides were allowed to operate, according to agency officials.

As the season progressed, state inspectors became less and less lenient, Mr. Gatzunis said.

Early on, if a particular seating compartment or car on a ride did not pass muster, inspectors allowed the ride to operate as long as the violating item was removed from service.

Now, if the same problem persists at the next carnival location, the entire ride is shut down.

"It's forced owners to make repairs right away and not wait until next season," Mr. Gatzunis said.

Beyond the stepped-up inspections, public safety officials completely overhauled the state's amusement regulations, weak rules crafted largely by the amusement industry.

Starting next year, carnival companies will be required to do criminal background checks of employees to weed out sex offenders.

Mr. Gatzunis reshaped the advisory board that wrote the old rules by lessening the influence of carnival owners on the panel. He then imposed the new rules on an emergency basis in March over the complaints of amusement company owners and trade group leaders who argued they were excessive and expensive. The regulations took effect permanently this month.

Carnivals must now carry $2 million worth of liability insurance instead of $1 million, a requirement that extends for the first time to inflatable devices more than 12-feet high.

Traveling carnivals also are required to have a certified maintenance mechanic on the premises at all times, keep much more detailed service records on equipment, affix official inspection plates to rides and train operators more thoroughly.

The new measures also set out in considerable detail the specific responsibilities of third-party insurance inspectors and state inspectors.

Most of the state officials' moves were met with opposition from the industry.

People in the amusement industry here say a few smaller amusement companies have gone out of business because of the new regulatory standards.

Many carnival owners are also chafing at the new rules, which they complain are confusing or difficult to put into practice. Some say state officials have been unresponsive to their requests for help in understanding the regulations - a complaint that Mr. Gatzunis dismisses.

"I don't know what other guidance they would need other than the 75 pages of regulations, which are not technical," according to Mr. Gatzunis, a professional engineer. "They're written in plain-speak, not lawyer-speak."

Still, some carnivals have still not received the identification plates they are required to affix to their rides, maintained Kathleen H. Wall, spokeswoman for the New England Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. Without the plates, they are technically not in compliance with the rules.

"What I'm hearing is a bit of frustration from some of our members. They're not getting strong guidance about what they're supposed to do," Ms. Wall said. "Other than that, the industry wants to do what it can to enhance safety.

"The increase in the insurance cost particularly was an issue. Since it came on an emergency basis, it was a surprise," she continued. "But it's the new cost of doing business."

The tighter controls brought about by Mr. Fohlin's death prompted the venerable Hardwick Fair not to provide carnival rides, and a fair in Dudley found itself without rides because the carnival company could not meet the new requirement to provide a certified maintenance mechanic.

But the thrills and excitement of carnivals remain a powerful attraction for families and for mentally challenged adults such as Drew Fohlin.

Next weekend, officials of the state Department of Mental Retardation confirmed, there is to be a carnival at Templeton Developmental Center, a state-run group residence that is similar to the Glavin Center where Mr. Fohlin, 38, resided.

"It's unfortunate what happened to Drew, but because of what happened to Drew, these rides are likely safer than ever before," said Richard R. Powers, a DMR spokesman.

 July 21, 2005

Operator tells of quick fix Sizzler repair

Author: Shaun Sutner Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

The carnival supervisor charged with manslaughter in the death of a man on a Shrewsbury amusement ride last fall installed the wrong nut and bolt on the Sizzler ride even though he knew it was unsafe, the ride's operator told police investigators.

Nearly three months later, Andrew R. Fohlin, 38, was killed when the ride's seating compartment broke apart in an accident. State public safety officials blamed it on a loose lap bar nut that did not meet the manufacturer's specifications, an undersized bolt and nut and a bolt with its head sheared off.

The ride operator, Richard Cruz, 36, of Hernando, Fla., who described himself as an illiterate "ride jock," said he reported to the supervisor, Brian R. McCullough, that the lap bar on the whirling ride's seat number six was loose and the seat frame was not bolted tightly, according to investigative documents obtained by the Telegram & Gazette.

At Mr. McCullough's request, Mr. Cruz found a nut on the carnival's generator to replace a missing nut on the seat. According to Mr. Cruz, after he and Mr. McCullough disassembled the seat, Mr. McCullough put the nut from the generator on the Sizzler, but it didn't fit the bolt.

So the broken seat stayed loosely attached to the main structure of the ride, Mr. Cruz told two state police detectives who interviewed him in Florida on Jan. 5 as part of Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte's investigation.

"He put on the bolt, but he couldn't put the bolt on all the way. After he put the nut on, it was still wobbly," Mr. Cruz said.

Before the repair attempt, Mr. Cruz, who had been running the ride at other carnivals staged by Jaro Amusements of Carlisle, had roped off the compartment and attached a sign written by a co-worker saying: "This seat doesn't work."

Mr. McCullough was responsible for maintaining the Sizzler and the traveling carnival's dozen or so other rides, and signed off on daily inspection logs on the machine. Though he could not write, Mr. Cruz signed his initials on the logs as the person running the ride.

Mr. McCullough, 39, also of Hernando, pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. He is next due in court Sept. 8.

When Mr. Cruz said he would go to The Home Depot for the right parts, Mr. McCullough threatened to lock him out of the carnival's trailer compound if he left, according to records of the interview that formed the basis for Mr. Cruz' testimony before the grand jury that indicted Mr. McCullough on June 17.

"He said I wasn't going to go to Home Depot just to get a nut and a bolt," according to Mr. Cruz's statement. "We put the seat together. We put it together and called it a night."

That incident occurred June 23, 2004, at the carnival's stop in Mansfield. Mr. Fohlin, a resident of a state-run group home for the mentally retarded, was killed Sept. 19, while the carnival was set up at a family festival at St. Mary's Church in Shrewsbury.

Mr. Cruz was fired the day after the loose nut was put on the Sizzler, but the ride apparently was not properly fixed during months leading up to the accident.

When the investigators asked him why he was fired, he said it was because his girlfriend told Mr. McCullough's wife - a game operator he referred to as "boss" - that he had assaulted her, which Mr. Cruz denied. Mr. Cruz added that Mr. McCullough still owed him a paycheck.

Two days before Mr. Cruz talked with police, three workers for another carnival company, Fiesta Shows of Seabrook, N.H., where Mr. Cruz went to work after leaving Jaro, corroborated many details of his account.

The co-workers each told the police in separate interviews on Jan. 3 in Massachusetts that Mr. Cruz told them after the Sizzler accident that he and Mr. McCullough had taken apart and fixed the seat but did not correct the problem.

While some of the details of their accounts conflicted, they all agreed that Mr. Cruz said that either the existing bolt was too small or that they put in a new bolt and nut that were too small.

One of the carnival employees, Steven Rebal, of Salisbury, told the investigators that Mr. Cruz "knew the seat was not right" after he and Mr. McCullough worked on it, and told Jaro's owner, John J. "Jack" Keough, about it.

Neither Mr. Cruz nor Mr. Keough has been charged in the case.

Another Fiesta employee, Dyt E. Cook of Seabrook, said Mr. Cruz told the workers that he feared Mr. McCullough would blame him for the accident.

Mr. Cook also said Mr. Cruz said Jaro's ride inspection reports were filled out in advance for the entire week.

Public safety officials have charged Jaro with shoddy record-keeping and maintenance practices.

"They are supposed to do a check each day, but you couldn't tell if it was done because they already filled it out in one day and left it at the office or whatever," Mr. Cook said in his statement.

In his statement, Mr. Cruz said most Sizzlers he had worked with "had a paper that says what is wrong, and the maintenance guy would come and fix it.

"This Sizzler doesn't have any paper," he said. "You had to write it on the daily inspection, or tell them. I don't know how to write, so I told Brian myself.

"He said that he would get to it when we get to Mansfield," he continued.

The third carnival worker who spoke with the police, Randle Parent of Seabrook, said Mr. Cruz told him and the others that he and Mr. McCullough had replaced a bolt, but did not have the right bolt on hand.

Mr. Parent also said Mr. Cruz was afraid that Mr. McCullough would try to blame him.

"Some of the guys were joking around saying that it was all my fault," Mr. Cruz told the investigators. "I told them I was not the maintenance guy."

Shaun Sutner can be reached by e-mail at ssutner@telegram.com.

July 15, 2005

Ride operator arraigned in Sizzler death -
Florida man remains free after pleading not guilty
Author: Shaun Sutner Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WORCESTER - The amusement supervisor charged with causing the death of 38-year-old Andrew R. Fohlin on a carnival ride in Shrewsbury last September pleaded not guilty to manslaughter at his arraignment yesterday in Worcester Superior Court.

Brian R. McCullough, of Hernando, Fla., indicted June 17 as the person responsible for the operation of the Sizzler ride, is the first person charged in an amusement death in Massachusetts.

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Mr. McCullough, 39, was not held in custody before the arraignment. He appeared in court unshackled, wearing a dark blue blazer and tie, and did not speak other than stating his plea.

He remained free on personal recognizance yesterday.

A former ride supervisor for Jaro Amusements of Carlisle, he is working for another carnival that is touring New England this summer, his lawyer, Howard M. Cooper, told Judge Kenneth J. Fishman. Mr. McCullough plans to return to Florida after the carnival season ends in October, he said.

Mr. Cooper declined to identify the company that now employs Mr. McCullough, a veteran of 26 years in the carnival business whose parents also worked for traveling carnivals.

"Mr. McCullough maintains he's done nothing wrong," Mr. Cooper said in an interview after the arraignment.

Under a pretrial probation agreement with prosecutors, Mr. McCullough must call probation officials at least twice a week, and when his carnival moves to different locations within Massachusetts and from state to state.

Mr. McCullough also has agreed to waive rendition, meaning he will return to Massachusetts voluntarily for court appearances, Assistant District Attorney Richard L. Greco told the judge.

The defendant declined comment after the arraignment.

Mr. Fohlin, who lived in a state-run residence for the mentally retarded, died from massive head trauma after he and another resident of the group home, David Mills, 48, were thrown from the whirling ride at a family festival at St. Mary's Parish in Shrewsbury Sept. 19, 2004.

Mr. Fohlin's mother, a retired psychiatrist, and two of his sisters and the family's lawyer attended the arraignment yesterday morning.

"We appreciate the diligence of the district attorney's office in this matter," said the lawyer, Leo V. Boyle. "The family's overriding mission is to make sure necessary changes are made to ensure this never happens again. Today's proceedings were a small step on that path and a necessary step, and we plan to be present every step of the way."

After an investigation, state public safety officials determined that the seating compartment that held Mr. Fohlin and Mr. Mills broke apart when an improperly replaced lap bar nut loosened, a bolt with its head removed gave way, and an undersized bolt sheared off. Mr. Mills suffered serious neck and back injuries. Another resident of the group home who was at the carnival, Dianne Desrosiers, received minor injuries.

Officials of the Department of Public Safety also said maintenance had been inadequate on the 25-year-old device, which John J. Keough, Jaro's president, bought used in 2002 from a Minnesota carnival.

Mr. Keough did not return phone calls seeking comment yesterday.

Mr. Keough, who is not charged with a crime, has been represented by the same law firm that is defending Mr. McCullough, Todd & Weld of Boston, in dealings with the state public safety agency about his company's amusement license.

Kathleen Wall, a spokeswoman for the New England Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, said Mr. McCullough's indictment is not part of any trend toward criminalizing amusement accidents.

"This is an individual case, and we view it as just another step in the legal process," she said. "Certainly our minds are with everybody who has been affected by this."

Shaun Sutner can be reached by e-mail at ssutner@telegram.com.

June 21, 2005

Carnival community rallying in Sizzler case -
Owner of company standing behind supervisor charged in Shrewsbury death

Author: Shaun Sutner Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

Many in the close-knit carnival community are rallying around one of their own, supporting a Florida amusement supervisor charged with manslaughter in the death of 38-year-old Andrew R. Fohlin on a Sizzler ride at a Shrewsbury church fair last fall.

A lawyer for Jaro Amusements of Carlisle, which owns the device, said the company is standing behind Brian R. McCullough, the maintenance supervisor who oversaw inspections of the whirling ride and attested it was safe.

"Mr. McCullough is highly regarded by Jaro and Jaro believes that in this instance Mr. McCullough properly did his job and is confident that this will be established when the matter proceeds," said Howard Cooper, of Owen & Todd of Boston. "Mr. McCullough is a highly competent and highly experienced amusement industry worker who has a long history of very highly regarded employment."

Meanwhile, Mr. Cooper said John J. "Jack" Keough, president of Jaro, asked that his and his company's sympathies be conveyed to Mr. Fohlin's family. The lawyer pointed out the grand jury that indicted Mr. McCullough did not hand up indictments against the company or Mr. Keough.

The company and its president, Mr. Cooper said, "are pleased that the grand jury was able to see they were engaged in no wrongdoing and that they did everything they were required by law to do in regard to operating safety."

Yesterday, a woman who answered Mr. McCullough's cell phone said "there will be no comment."

Mr. McCullough, who reportedly still is working for a carnival company in Massachusetts, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He is the first person to be criminally charged in an amusement ride death in Massachusetts.

State public safety investigators have determined that one of the Sizzler's bolts was undersized and another had been altered. The parts broke off, causing the seating compartment that held Mr. Fohlin and David Mills, 48, residents of a state residence for the mentally retarded, to break apart.

Steven Rebal of Salisbury, a longtime carnival employee who worked with Mr. McCullough for many years at Seabrook, N.H.-based Fiesta Shows, said of the indictment: "I don't think it's a good thing."

Mr. McCullough, 39, grew up with parents who worked for carnivals. He started working for carnivals when he was 13.

"He's been in the business most of his life," Mr. Rebal said.

As for who was at fault in the Sept. 19, 2004, accident, "nobody's 100 percent sure," Mr. Rebal said.

Robert W. Johnson, president of the Outdoor Amusement Business Association in Florida, suggested that by bringing the case against Mr. McCullough, Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte may be trying to focus attention on the state's admittedly sloppy and haphazard amusement inspection program.

"I don't know what his motives are," Mr. Johnson said.

Mr. Johnson said it not clear how criminal cases can improve safety practices.

The indictment is "not a good trend for the industry," he said. "It's a wake-up call perhaps, but I don't know what it does to provide better training.

"Maybe an owner-operator will look at this accident and say, `I'm getting out of the business,'" Mr. Johnson continued. "If you hit someone with your car, that's manslaughter, but you don't want to stop driving."

The grand jury that spent three months poring over testimony and evidence in the case heard from witnesses from the state's small carnival industry.

Many ride operators and mechanics in that industry know each other from years of working for the same handful of companies.

Employees often move from company to company during the busy seven-month carnival season and get to know each other by living in close quarters in trailer compounds as the shows move from community to community.

The itinerant lifestyle is low-paying and involves late nights, but employees generally don't need to report for work until 3 p.m.

For Mr. Conte and his lead prosecutor in the case, veteran Assistant District Attorney Richard L. Greco, success may hinge on the believability of witnesses, some of whom will likely come from the carnival trade, legal experts say.

"It's an interesting case. A lot of it is going to come down to credibility and whether this evidence has the ring of truth that gets beyond reasonable doubt," said Louis P. Aloise, a leading criminal defense lawyer in Worcester.

Some amusement safety advocates take issue with comments in the days since the indictment by amusement industry officials and others critical of the idea of assigning criminal culpability for ride accidents.

Only in the past five years or so have prosecutors begun bringing criminal charges in such cases, which in the past had traditionally been resolved with civil lawsuits, with amusement park and carnival owners commonly agreeing to confidential out-of-court settlements.

Amusement operators typically react with outrage after a criminal charge is brought against one of their colleagues, said Kenneth R. Martin, a Virginia ride safety consultant and advocate who has faulted some operators for not paying enough attention to safety, maintenance and inspections.

"It's `How can they do this?'" Mr. Martin said. "Well, it's because someone was killed. Maybe under the surface, people are saying, `We can't cut corners any more.'"

Contact Shaun Sutner at ssutner@telegram.com

 Friday, February 25, 2005

Amusement safety hearing

State panel discusses extent of shutdowns when rides are broken

By Jacqueline Reis Telegram & Gazette Staff

BOSTON— Members of the state Amusement Advisory Board wrapped up their public hearing on newly proposed regulations yesterday, but the Department of Public Safety will accept written comments through March 4 and expects further suggestions from members of the board.

Public Safety Commissioner Thomas G. Gatzunis expects to issue the emergency regulations on March 9 or 10. They would take effect immediately but would not become permanent until after another public hearing on April 27. The department will meet with amusement operators on March 9 to explain the changes, he said.

The proposed changes to the state’s amusement ride regulations come four months after a seat on a Sizzler ride came apart and sent 38-year-old Andrew R. Fohlin of Shrewsbury falling to his death. The incident and ensuing investigations showed gaps in the state’s inspection system and ambiguity about different inspectors’ responsibilities.

Yesterday’s discussions ranged from whether a ride can operate if one seat is out of order to how much of a carnival should be shut down if a serious injury or death occurred. The proposed regulations say the entire ride should be shut down if one seat is out of order, but Mr. Gatzunis said he would change that to say rides can operate in that condition if the owner has an approved plan to keep people out of the broken seat. Public Safety staff is still reviewing whether to shut down a single ride or an entire operation in the event of a serious injury or death.

One of the recurring themes of yesterday’s and Wednesday’s discussions were whether the department would have enough inspectors to inspect rides every time they open at a new location. There are 40 to 50 licensed amusement operators in the state and about 15 fixed amusement parks of varying sizes. Because of the logistics involved, ride operators will have to give the state at least 10 days notice of where they will operate, and Mr. Gatzunis agreed to schedule the inspections for a particular time. The issue of rain dates could put another wrinkle in that plan, however, as could other unforeseen circumstances, such as an inspector getting stuck in traffic and holding up a carnival’s opening.

Asked whether the rides could open if an inspector didn’t show up, Mr. Gatzunis said he was still figuring that out. “There has to be some kind of condition before that happens… because I need a mechanism to hold my inspectors accountable,” the commissioner said. “I don’t know what the exact solution is.”

 SIZZLER RIDE ACCIDENT REPORT AVAILABLE AT   www.mass.gov/dps.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Sizzler owner faces hearing

By Shaun Sutner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

A state hearing officer will decide as early as next month if the owner of an amusement ride that killed Andrew F. Fohlin of Shrewsbury in September will lose his permit to operate carnivals in Massachusetts.

The Department of Public Safety will hold an administrative hearing Jan. 5 on whether Jaro Amusements Co. of Carlisle and its owner, John J. Keough, violated state law and regulations by failing to keep maintenance logs on the 24-year-old Sizzler ride.

The company could also be fined up to $10,000 for submitting an incorrect carnival itinerary to the state.

The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. in Room 1301 of the McCormack State Office Building at 1 Ashburton Place.

Elizabeth McLoughlin, general counsel for the DPS, will represent the state, while a lawyer with Boston law firm Todd & Weld will argue Jaro’s case.

After investigating the Sept. 19 Shrewsbury church fair accident, DPS officials concluded that Jaro did not keep proper repair records and that improper maintenance contributed to the accident, which they said was caused by a pair of altered and undersized seat bolts and a loose lap bar nut.

DPS officials say Jaro has still not complied with repeated requests to furnish the agency with maintenance records.

The company, through spokesmen, has maintained that the DPS has never asked for them.

Douglas Bailey, a public relations executive hired by Todd & Weld, said Jaro gave maintenance logs the day of the accident to state police investigators working for Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte.

“All the required documentation is available,” Mr. Bailey said. “I’m not certain what the DPS has asked for that we’ve not provided. We’re looking forward to the hearing and talking with them and getting this straightened out.

Mr. Bailey, referring to Mr. Conte’s investigation, said Jaro is “cooperating fully with all investigative and regulatory authorities.”

“Because the matter is part of a grand jury proceeding, we will have nothing to say publicly about evidence, nor will we respond to comments or requests that come to us via the media,” he added.

Jaro could face lesser disciplinary action, including permit suspension, if the hearing officer — who has up to a month to issue a decision — rules that the company has provided the necessary information.

It has not done so yet, said Kathleen C. Ford, spokeswoman for the state Executive Office of Public Safety.

Contact Shaun Sutner via e-mail at ssutner@telegram.com
 

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Spin control

Accident renews call for regulation

SIZZLER FATALITY POINTS TO INDUSTRYWIDE FLAWS

By Shaun Sutner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
ssutner@telegram.com
When a 24-year-old Sizzler carnival ride flew apart and pitched a mentally retarded man to his death at a Shrewsbury church festival earlier this fall, it exposed deep flaws in inspections by state agencies, perhaps too-close relationships between the owner and the insurer, and inadequate oversight by the federal government.

These problems appear to be prevalent across the amusement industry.

The Sept. 19 accident killed Andrew F. Fohlin, 38, of the Irving A. Glavin Regional Center in Shrewsbury and seriously injured another rider. It also raised questions about whether the Sizzler and other carnival rides are safe, and whether anything can be done to improve the products and regulation of the $1 billion-plus business.

Until now, efforts to stiffen laws and regulation of carnivals and fixed amusement parks, such as Six Flags New England in Springfield, have been stymied by a combination of indifference and fierce lobbying by ride operators.
And the federal agency that investigates carnival accidents, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, has limited powers — and no authority over amusement parks.

Critics say the insularity of the small carnival community, which numbers about 500 companies across the country and serves perhaps 350 million customers, has helped shield it from scrutiny and slowed progress on safety issues.

“It’s a very incestuous business in a lot of ways,” said Kathleen E. Fackler, a Californian who founded the Saferparks Website after her 5-year-old son lost part of his left foot in a roller coaster accident in 1998. “A lot of this stuff happens quietly, so it’s hard for consumers to know what’s going on.”

In the last few years, ride safety advocates have stepped up calls to tighten federal oversight and bring uniformity to the patchwork of local regulations under which some states — particularly in the Midwest — are without regulation, while others — such as Pennsylvania and North Carolina — closely monitor carnivals. Massachusetts falls somewhere in the middle.
The links between the owner of the ride involved in the Shrewsbury accident, Jaro Amusements Co. of Carlisle, Mass., and some of its business partners and trade associations illustrate the somewhat mysterious connections within the industry.

Jaro’s insurance carrier, T.H.E. Insurance Company of Treasure Island, Fla., and its finance arm, Tropic Capital Corp., which shares a Treasure Island office building with T.H.E., are linked to another company in the building, Allied Specialty Insurance, a national leader in the small niche of insuring amusement operators.

Tropic lent Jaro the money to buy the Sizzler, which was manufactured by Wisdom Industries of Merino, Colo., in 1980.

Coincidentally, Wisdom, one of the few major American makers of carnival rides, emerged from bankruptcy protection — which it sought in large part as protection from eight product liability claims, according to court documents — about a week after the Shrewsbury accident

Jaro won’t say how much it paid for the ride, which it bought from Phyllis Osander of Minnesota in 2002, but similar used devices go for anywhere between $125,000 and $300,000.

Jaro’s owner, John J. Keough, has been in seclusion since the Shrewsbury accident.

His spokesman, Alan E. Ramsay of Rhode Island, a former carnival operator who is also president of the New England Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, has turned down repeated requests from the Telegram & Gazette to interview Mr. Keough.

“It basically creates a close-knit good-old-boy network, in which people who are well-liked are well taken care of, and those who are not are not well taken care of,” said Kenneth R. Martin, an amusement safety consultant in Richmond, Va., who has been a persistent critic of T.H.E. and of the widespread practice of using inspectors who come from the carnival business to inspect rides.

“T.H.E., Allied and Tropic — that whole organization has found a niche where they can insure people who are not insurable or able to secure financing by other means,” Mr. Martin added.

Allied, which functions as T.H.E.’s agent, was founded by a former carnival operator, Paul “Duke” Smith. By the time of his death in 2002, Mr. Smith had become a legend in the business.

Allied has been a major contributor to scholarship funds of many amusement groups, and Allied and T.H.E. are active in national and international trade associations. The firms are also known for the hospitality parties they throw each year at trade gatherings in places like Tampa and Las Vegas, including one co-sponsored by Allied at a major amusement industry show in Orlando last week.

T.H.E.’s president, Donald D. Culpepper, noted that his company, founded in 1969, now has a coveted A- rating from the A.M. Best insurance rating service.

With $55.9 million written in premiums last year, T.H.E. is a relatively small concern, dwarfed by mammoth multinational carriers such as ACE, with which it competes.

A knowledgeable industry source said the company could reap more than $10 million in profits annually, after paying agents a 15 percent commission, an estimated $10 million in administrative costs and $5 million to $8 million in liability claims a year.

Unlike the larger insurance companies, T.H.E. focuses strictly on the amusement and entertainment industries. Besides carnivals and amusement parks, it insures batting cages, hunting lodges, zoos and rodeos.

T.H.E. dominates the carnival and amusement park business on the East Coast and in New England, while a competitor, Haas-Wilkerson of Kansas, an agent for ACE, controls the Midwest, Southwest and West. Some other large insurers such as AIG and St. Paul Travelers also cover amusement businesses, but T.H.E., Allied, and Haas-Wilkerson/ACE are the most prominent players in the carnival niche.

“We have strong financial strength,” Mr. Culpepper said. “That’s what makes us the ‘A.’ We provide excellent service and coverage.”

He declined to respond to the comments by Ms. Fackler and Ms. Martin about the alleged incestuousness of his business. “I can’t answer that question,” he told a reporter. “I don’t think you’re getting all the correct information from your sources.”

Mr. Culpepper also would not provide information on T.H.E.’s pricing policies, saying they are proprietary. But a source said the company is known for its low-cost, no-deductible coverage which, when combined with favorable financing from Tropic that allows operators to make loan payments only in-season, is attractive to many cash-strapped carnival owners.

T.H.E. has been the insurer of record in three of the four fatal accidents that have been reported on traveling carnival rides in this country since 1998. According to the Product Safety Commission, there have been 26 deaths on mobile and fixed rides over the last six years.

While amusement park ride fatalities far outnumber those on traveling rides, the numbers of non-fatal injuries are roughly comparable, with 19,500 on carnival rides from 1998 to 2003, and 26,500 on fixed rides.

The statistics may not be reliable, however.

Safety advocates say the Product Safety Commission undercounts deaths and injuries by using an unrepresentative random sampling of 100 hospitals around the country that may or may not be near amusement centers.

And amusement industry associations do not keep solid data on the number of riders.

Theoretically, traveling rides may be safer not only because they are smaller, but also because they are taken down and reassembled so frequently that operators have more opportunities to spot problems.

Two of the deaths in which T.H.E. has been the insurer resulted in criminal charges against ride operators and inspectors. The Shrewsbury accident is being investigated by the Worcester district attorney, who has said he may bring manslaughter or negligence charges against Jaro or others.

Research showed that T.H.E has insured rides involved in a number of accidents.

• It insured a Tennessee amusement park where 51-year-old June Carol Alexander of Nashville fell to her death from a Hawk ride on March 14.

• T.H.E. also was the underwriter for a traveling show owner in West Virginia in 2001 when 7-year-old Stephanie Moats had her pelvis ripped in half on a miniature roller coaster called the Dragon.

Police charged an employee with operating the ride while drunk. Lawyers for the victim argued that the employee was mentally retarded. The man said in court that he had never filled out a job application or been asked if he had any disabilities or drug or alcohol problems.

Lawyer Alex Shook traveled to Florida to negotiate a settlement with T.H.E. after two days of trial. “We settled it sitting on the beach in Treasure Island,” he said.

• T.H.E. was involved again in 1998 when an undulating, spinning coaster called the Himalaya killed a Texas teenager. The incident led to manslaughter charges against the carnival owner and several inspectors who had signed off on the ride.

• In 1996, the Florida company insured Bonkers 19, a former amusement park in Weymouth, Mass., where 8-year-old Danielle Foti had part of her scalp ripped off by a mini-Himalaya operated by a 16-year-old.

The girl’s family, and her lawyer, John A. Dalimonte, refused to agree to the gag order that is customary in the industry when settling lawsuits out of court. Instead, they publicized the $7.5 million settlement that T.H.E. agreed to — in part to encourage efforts to put fixed parks under state regulation.

While that Massachusetts law made it onto the books, 13 states still do not regulate amusement parks at all.

Today, Mr. Dalimonte is among those who think further federal oversight is needed to help prevent poorly maintained or uninspected rides from crossing state lines.

The industry, he says, “is putting dollars over safety. They’re looking to cut corners and compromise public safety, especially that of children.”

Beefed-up federal enforcement, such as giving the Product Safety Commission authority over fixed parks and requiring insurance inspectors to be licensed engineers, “seems very basic, very fundamental to what we are trying to do — and that is protect children,” he said.

The Weymoth accident, among others, led U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Malden, to file legislation this year that would require ride operators to be at least 18 years old.

Mr. Markey said he is not optimistic about the short-term chances of his bill or other efforts to bring federal regulation to carnivals and to bring amusement parks under the purview of the Product Safety Commission, especially with a Republican-controlled White House and Congress. But he said he believes rides will eventually come under uniform regulation just as other products, such as baby carriages, are.

“The only question is how many people will die in accidents before that happens,” said the congressman, who is considered the leading advocate for ride safety in Congress. “There should be federal regulation. Building inspectors are doing inspections, companies are relying on insurance inspectors.

“People are at risk, and something has to be done about it. The public assumes this industry is regulated. They’d be shocked to know it’s not. The problem is it just doesn’t receive enough attention until an accident occurs.”

Amusement industry officials bridle at giving the federal government more say in how they run their business.

They say leaving regulation at the state level is the best way to promote safety, in conjunction with cooperation between manufacturers and ride operators who maintain and upgrade their machines according to their operating manuals and the periodic safety bulletins issued by manufacturers.

“I don’t think the federal government has any interest in regulating amusement rides,” said Robert W. Johnson, president of the Outdoor Amusement Business Association in Orlando. “I know congressman Markey has a bill and has a certain agenda. We as an industry are regulated by Consumer Product Safety Commission through the ride manufacturers and engineering and safety bulletins.

“I don’t think there needs to be any additional federal government oversight.”

Shaun Sutner can be reached via e-mail at ssutner@telegram.com.
 

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Blame? A lot of finger-pointing

By Shaun Sutner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

In Massachusetts, the small, tightly knit carnival business suffered a major blow after Andrew F. Fohlin, 38, a passionate fan of the Boston Red Sox who had lived in state-run group homes for the mentally retarded since he was 10 years old, was thrown onto the pavement and killed nearly instantaneously by one of the whirling rides he loved.

He died of severe head injuries, his family’s lawyer said.

David Mills, 48, who lived in the Irving A. Glavin Regional Center in Shrewsbury with Mr. Fohlin and was in the seating compartment with him when the ride came apart, suffered shoulder and back injuries in the accident. He has also retained a lawyer.

A week after the Sept. 19 accident, Massachusetts public safety officials revealed that their own inspection system is plagued by erratic inspections, sloppy record-keeping, inadequate staffing and funding, and vague regulations.

As the public shied away from carnivals here during the normally busy fall fair season, the state finally cracked down.

Beginning 10 days after Mr. Fohlin’s death, inspectors descended on itinerant amusement shows from Templeton to Topsfield. They subjected every ride to a thorough going-over, shutting down one carnival, and effectively putting Jaro Amusements of Carlisle, owner of the Sizzler, and its president, John J. Keough, out of business for the year — if not permanently.

In the rounds of finger-pointing after the accident, the state blamed the insurance inspectors and Jaro, who in turn fired back, blasting the state’s shoddy system.

Anthony J. Rossi, the inspector who signed off on the Sizzler in 2002, 2003 and 2004 as a subcontractor for T.H.E., the company that insured the Shrewsbury carnival, told the Telegram & Gazette that he had viewed no maintenance logs when he did his visual inspections. And he said that he did not keep his own written record of his inspections of the Sizzler and about a dozen other Jaro machines.

Mr. Rossi is a former carnival owner and New Jersey state amusement inspector who grew up working at carnivals. Mr. Rossi, who holds the highest certification level given by the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials, maintains he can do his job better than any engineer.

Kenneth R. Martin, a ride safety consultant, with whom Mr. Rossi has feuded over the years, wants the federal government to require all ride inspectors be professional engineers. In Mr. Martin’s view, the relationships that some insurance companies have with carnival companies are too close to promote the best safety measures.

“That’s his opinion. I don’t know what Mr. Martin’s qualifications are,” said Mr. Rossi, who works for MAH Consulting of Zephyr Hills, Fla., which could be named in a civil liability suit being prepared by lawyer for Mr. Fohlin’s relatives. “I’ve erected and assembled rides. I can read blueprints and schematic design. I’ve built a park in New Jersey. I’ve built a wooden roller coaster in Tennessee.”

For his part, Robert W. Johnson, of the Outdoor Amusement Business Association, rejects the criticism that insurers look the other way sometimes to keep carnivals that they insure under their wing.

He said critics of the industry should look at incompetent state officials instead. And he dismissed Massachusetts Public Safety Commissioner Thomas G. Gatzunis’ proposal to increase from $1 million to $5 million the liability coverage carnivals are mandated to carry, a proposal some think could hike costs so much that church and neighborhood carnivals would be a thing of the past.

“These owner-operators have the most at stake and so do their insurance companies,” Mr. Johnson said. “We all saw in Massachusetts somewhat of a disarray in inspections and training. They grandstanded a lot, but when it comes to doing the work, they left it up to us.”

The Sizzler involved in the fatal Shrewsbury accident now sits shrink-wrapped in a Foxboro storage lot behind a trailer park.

The machine has been examined by experienced product-liability lawyers and a mechanical engineer working for Mr. Fohlin’s family.

The legal team videotaped and took dozens of photographs of the compartment involved in the fatal accident and four more of the Sizzler’s 12 seating tubs.

The images depict a machine that is covered with rust, with fiberglass sections worn away and bolts missing from critical locations where seating compartments are anchored to the ride’s long sweep arms.

Alan E. Ramsay, spokesman for Jaro, said rust does not necessarily mean a ride is in bad condition.

“You have surface rust and you have deep rust, a more intense rusting of the metal itself,” Ramsay said. “You’re talking about a lot of pieces of steel that are painted and can get a scratch and some surface rust.”

The plaintiff’s lawyers, led by Leo V. Boyle of Boston, a past president of the American Trial Lawyers Association, are preparing to argue that Jaro’s Sizzler was defectively manufactured and negligently maintained.

The lawyers maintain that the seating compartment, which state public safety officials have determined fell apart after a loose lap-bar nut and two substandard bolts gave way, lacked a supporting, load-bearing structure that would have saved Mr. Fohlin when the fiberglass shell of the seat came apart.

With Wisdom Manufacturing Co., maker of the Sizzler ride, just out of bankruptcy, Mr. Fohlin’s family members, if they win or settle, may have to content themselves with Jaro’s $1 million policy — and any safety changes that result, such as a recall of the estimated 300 Sizzlers on the market.

In any event, if Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte’s criminal investigation results in manslaughter or negligence charges, it will buttress what already appears to be a strong civil case, many observers think.

“This is a scary-looking ride. I’ve been doing amusement rides for a while, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” one of the lawyers, Bradley M. Henry, said.

Shaun Sutner can be reached via e-mail at ssutner@telegram.com.
Sunday, November 21, 2004

Carnival rides are good adjunct to several fund-raising events
By Jacqueline Reis TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Carnival fund-raisers such as the one held at St. Mary Church in Shrewsbury in September are a multimillion-dollar industry nationwide, but while a local man’s death may cause St. Mary to scale back its rides, other nonprofits say the incident has not affected their plans.

Andrew F. Fohlin, 38, a mentally retarded man who lived at the Glavin Regional Center in Shrewsbury, died Sept. 19 when the spinning Sizzler ride he was on broke apart during the St. Mary Parish Fun Festival, the parish school’s biggest annual fund-raiser. The Sizzler is owned by Jaro Amusements Co. of Carlisle.

Rev. Paul T. O’Connell, pastor of St. Mary, said the church will probably continue its 30-year tradition of having a festival, but might limit rides to those for children. The church has hired Jaro Amusements for the last five or six years. Before that it used only small rides and kept the festival to more of a country fair with crafts and food. “Probably we’ll go back to that,” he said.

The event raises about $40,000 a year for the parish’s school — preschool through eighth grade. However, the rides themselves generate a smaller portion of that than do other features of the three-day festival, such as the raffle and Italian trattoria. “The rides don’t generate money as much as they generate fun and interest,” Rev. O’Connell said.

Carnival fund-raisers might just break even or raise thousands of dollars, according to Robert W. Johnson, president of the Outdoor Amusement Business Association. Weather can make or break a single event but, generally speaking, the approximately 325 carnival companies in the U.S. raise “well over $100 million a year” for the groups that hire them, Mr. Johnson estimated. According to OABA’s Web site, almost all carnivals are sponsored by nonprofits that receive part of the proceeds.

Hanover Youth Hockey is one of those. The organization raised almost $10,000 for ice time, equipment and other hockey costs at its carnival this fall, according to youth hockey President Ray A. Miller.

Mr. Miller had worried that some people, including Hanover town officials, might object to the event after Mr. Fohlin’s death, but no one took issue with the carnival, which featured mainly children’s rides and inflatable rides.

“There were some people that were somewhat concerned. They just said, ‘Gosh, did you hear about the accident? Is anything going to happen to the carnival?’ ” But, Mr. Miller said, “There was no real reason for concern at that point.”

The group has already booked the same carnival operator, North American Amusement Inc. of Weymouth, for next year, according to North American’s owner, Robert J. Perkins Jr.

He said business has been good for North American, which had a variety of bookings in Massachusetts this fall. “We were opened up the last week, and there wasn’t one person that even questioned it,” Mr. Perkins said.

Trinity Episcopal Church in Canton also plans to continue its carnival fund-raisers. The church holds spring and fall carnivals that are typically the parish’s largest fund-raisers of the year, according to Rector Philip C. Jacobs. The amount raised varies so much from year to year that he wouldn’t give an estimate of what’s typical, but, he said, “This is a very big help.”

The death in Shrewsbury seems to have kept some people away this year, he said. “I think people were anxious, people were suddenly startled by that, and understandably so,” Rev. Jacobs said. He added that he has confidence in carnival operator Sam Pino Amusement Co. Inc. of Malden, which the church has already booked for next year.

Jack Fanelli, general manager of Fanelli Amusement Co. based in Greenville, N.H., said his carnivals raise anywhere from a couple thousand dollars to $15,000 for the organizations that hire him, such as the Bolton Fair, where the company has worked for 25 years. He expects that the regulations likely to follow Mr. Fohlin’s death will make it more expensive for carnivals to operate.

“Everything’s been heightened,” he said.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

 More faulty bolts alleged
Lawyer says ride poorly built

The carnival ride that killed a Shrewsbury man in September was riddled with defective and missing bolts, according to the lawyer for relatives of the victim, 38-year-old Andrew F. Fohlin.

Leo V. Boyle, who represents Mr. Fohlin’s mother and four siblings, inspected the device with a mechanical engineer last Wednesday and found that four seating compartments besides the one in which Mr. Fohlin and David Mills, 48, were sitting, had problems with the same bolt that snapped in the men’s car.

“These rides are inherently hazardously built, and on the particular ride, the one that killed Drew Fohlin, at least four others out of a total of 12 are without a bolt or have a bolt that is broken,” Mr. Boyle said. “This wasn’t a matter of ‘if,’ it was a matter of ‘when.’ ”

Mr. Boyle, of the firm Meehan, Boyle, Black & Fitzgerald in Boston, looked at the ride for more than three hours at a leased storage area in Foxboro maintained by the carnival operator, Jaro Amusements of Carlisle. Two Jaro lawyers were present.

Mr. Boyle and the engineer also examined the car that came apart in the Sept. 19 accident at a Shrewsbury church festival and found that the altered bolt that state officials have faulted in part for the accident had been missing its head for a long time, Mr. Boyle said.

Each car on the spinning Sizzler ride has four 7/16-inch internal frame bolts that fasten the cars to the long “sweep” arms of the machine.

State public safety investigators determined in an Oct. 28 report that one of the bolts had had its head sheared off some time before the accident and could not withstand severe stresses, and that another bolt had been replaced with an undersized 3/8-inch bolt that also failed to hold.

The report also said that Jaro employees, including the company’s owner, John J. “Jack” Keough, told them that there were no maintenance logs because no maintenance had been performed on the ride.

Mr. Boyle, who has been trying product liability cases for three decades, said the Department of Public Safety report is an accurate depiction of what happened.

“It’s very clear to me that the DPS hit the nail right on the head and exposed the defective portions of the ride,” he said. “The fact of the matter is that at least one bolt on the ride was broke and it had been broken for a long time. It was a critical link in the chain.”

Jaro, through spokesman Alan E. Ramsay, has vigorously contested the DPS findings, saying the agency has tried to distract attention from its own admittedly shoddy inspection system by accusing Jaro of inadequately maintaining the Sizzler.

Mr. Ramsay has also contended that Jaro met all state requirements and that a state-licensed insurance inspector signed off on the ride earlier this year.

Yesterday, Mr. Ramsay criticized Mr. Boyle’s inspection. He said it was a cursory and unscientific glimpse at mechanical issues that should properly be determined by a rigorous process in which the device is dismantled, in what is known in the industry as a “destructive” inspection.

Instead of doing that with the aid of testing instruments, Mr. Boyle and his consultant peered through a “hand hole” no bigger in diameter than a medium-sized coffee cup and felt around with their hands, he said.

“No destructive testing or ride disassembly was done,” Mr. Ramsay said. “Jaro has not altered this ride at all. It was permitted by the state and a state inspector permitted it. Nothing was noted to be defective or substandard.”

Jaro had a standard $1 million insurance liability policy in place for all of its 2004 carnivals, as required by state law.

The church that hired the company, St. Mary’s Parish, was covered by the same policy, according to documents the church furnished to Shrewsbury officials.

While amusement ride deaths that end up in court frequently result in multimillion-dollar settlements, it is unlikely that Mr. Fohlin’s family will seek damages from the church or the Worcester Diocese, Mr. Boyle said.

Contact Shaun Sutner via e-mail at ssutner@telegram.com.

November 09, 2004

Department of Public Safety remains firm on decision over Sizzler that caused man's death

BOSTON - The state Department of Public Safety on Monday stood by its findings in a fatal carnival accident after the owners of the carnival ride issued a blistering attack, questioning the qualifications of safety officials and calling their performance "dismal."

Jaro Amusements Inc. released the statement Sunday in response to the department's final report on the Sept. 19 accident at St. Mary's Parish in Shrewsbury, in which a car on the Sizzler ride broke apart in midair, killing one man and injuring two other people.

"This report is a blatant attempt by the DPS to turn the spotlight away from its own shortcomings, and admittedly dismal performance, toward the owner of the Sizzler ride, Jaro Amusements, Inc.," the statement said. "Jaro has faithfully followed its regulatory obligations with regard to the Sizzler and all of its other rides."

Katie Ford, a spokeswoman for the department, said Monday that its investigation "thoroughly and accurately assessed" the accident and attributed appropriate responsibility for the accident to the three mechanical problems with the ride.

"The Department of Public Safety takes very seriously its responsibility to the people of the commonwealth and in particular to the citizens and families who choose to ride on amusement rides," Ford said. "At the end of the day, Jaro Amusements, as the owner and operator of that ride, is responsible for conducting daily inspections to ensure that the ride is as safe as possible."

The accident threw a mentally disabled man, Andrew R. Fohlin, 38, to his death, and injured the man in the ride with him, David Mills, 48. A woman on the ground, Diane Derosier, 44, suffered minor injuries from falling debris.

The public safety report, released Oct. 29, said the safety bar holding the two men in place failed. That caused their weight to shift, snapping two bolts, one of which had been altered, and the other of which was too small, according to the report.

The report also said that Jaro owner Jack Keough told investigators the car had not received required maintenance, and that Jaro could not produce maintenance records for the ride. At the time that the report was released, a Jaro spokesman denied the finding that the car had not been serviced, but otherwise declined to comment.

In its response released Sunday, the company contradicted many of the findings, saying the ride had annual inspections and up-to-date permits, and relied upon the DPS to perform its duties.

Jaro spokesman Alan E. Ramsay said the company never altered or modified the more than 20-year-old ride, which it bought two years ago, and maintained all documents, including daily inspection logs.

Jaro also denied telling DPS that there had been no maintenance of the ride, and said officials never asked to see the logs, which have since been turned over to Worcester District Attorney John Conte. Conte has convened a grand jury to look into possible criminal charges.

Prosecutors have the power to seek court orders to force records to be turned over.

Ramsay also said Public Safety Commissioner Thomas Gatzunis and Chief of Inspections Mark Mooney were not qualified or certified to do inspections. He also said Gatzunis' admission during a Beacon Hill hearing that the department is short-staffed and backlogged shows the department could not do its job.

"They're doing an investigation on this, when they're not even certified to do a ride inspection," Ramsay said. "Could that bolt have been from a bad batch when the ride was manufactured when the ride was bolt 20 years ago? Was it substandard steel? I don't know."

Monday, November 8, 2004

Sizzler’s owners blast state report

Jaro says DPS is at fault

BOSTON— The owners of a carnival ride that threw two men to the ground, killing one of them, unleashed a blistering attack yesterday against state safety officials, questioning their qualifications and accusing them of a “dismal performance.”

Jaro Amusements Inc. released the statement yesterday in response to the state Department of Public Safety’s final report on the Sept. 19 accident, in which a car on the Sizzler ride at a church fair broke apart in midair.

“This report is a blatant attempt by the DPS to turn the spotlight away from its own shortcomings, and admittedly dismal performance, toward the owner of the Sizzler ride, Jaro Amusements, Inc.,” the statement said. “Jaro has faithfully followed its regulatory obligations with regard to the Sizzler and all of its other rides.”

Katie Ford, a spokeswoman for the department, did not return messages last night seeking comment.

The accident threw a mentally disabled man, Andrew R. Fohlin, 38, to his death, and injured the man in the ride with him, David Mills, 48. A woman on the ground, Diane Derosier, 44, suffered minor injuries from falling debris.

The Department of Public Safety report, released Oct. 29, stated the safety bar holding the two men in place failed. That caused their weight to shift, snapping two bolts, one of which had been altered, and the other of which was too small, according to the report.

The report also stated that Jaro owner Jack Keough told investigators the car had not received required maintenance, and that Jaro could not produce maintenance records for the ride. At the time that the report was released, a Jaro spokesman denied the finding that the car had not been serviced, but otherwise declined to comment.

In its response released yesterday, the company contradicted many of the findings, saying the ride had annual inspections and up-to-date permits, and it relied upon the DPS to perform its duties.

Jaro spokesman Alan E. Ramsay said the company never altered or modified the more than 20-year-old ride, which it bought two years ago, and maintained all documents, including daily inspection logs.

Jaro also denied telling DPS that there had been no maintenance of the ride, and it said officials never asked to see the logs, which have since been turned over to Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte. Conte has convened a grand jury to look into possible criminal charges.

Ramsay also said DPS Commissioner Thomas Gatzunis and Chief of Inspections Mark Mooney were not qualified or certified to do inspections. He also said Gatzunis’ admission during a Beacon Hill hearing that the department is short staffed and backlogged shows the department could not do its job.

“They’re doing an investigation on this, when they’re not even certified to do a ride inspection,” said Ramsay. “Could that bolt have been from a bad batch when the ride was manufactured … 20 years ago? Was it substandard steel? I don’t know.”

Jaro has faithfully followed its regulatory obligations with regard to the Sizzler and all of its other rides. As an operator of traveling amusement devices, Jaro has each year had an annual inspection performed by an inspector certified to do so by the DPS, received annual permits to operate its rides, and relied upon the DPS to perform its duties. However, Jaro, as well as the citizens of the Commonwealth, have been let down by the DPS.

With regard to the DPS's report of the Sizzler incident, Jaro notes that the DPS glaringly fails to mention DPS's admitted failures to inspect the Sizzler ride as a contributing factor to the incident. The DPS has, in statements to the press, repeatedly denied responsibility for inspecting the bolts it says contributed to the incident; however, the regulation governing amusement device inspections, 520 CMR 5.13(3), clearly states that DPS inspectors are to "... perform a general safety inspection that includes ensuring proper bolting, pins, clips, proper blocking, grounding, proper condition of safety devices including restraints and emergency stops and over-speed devices, &, and to ensure that the overall condition of the ride and passenger carrying devices deemed same for public operation".

Jaro also points to a number of inaccuracies in the DPS report. The report states that there were alterations or modifications to the ride. However, Jaro never altered or modified the Sizzler, and the DPS report fails to state this fact. Furthermore, Jaro has properly maintained all documents required by State regulations, including the daily inspection log for the Sizzler ride for the day of the incident. Jaro never told the DPS that no maintenance was performed. The DPS did not ever ask for the daily inspection logs for the Sizzler that predated the date of the incident. These logs, preserved by Jaro and provided to District Attorney Conte when they were requested by his office, include all maintenance information for the Sizzler for the period of time that the ride has been owned by Jaro.

These inadequacies in the DPS report beg the question: are the DPS inspectors that wrote the report qualified to do so? The two inspectors for DPS who responded to the accident were the Commissioner of DPS, Thomas Gatzunis, and the Chief of Inspections for DPS, Mark Mooney. Commissioner Gatzunis is a Professional Engineer; however, he has no expertise in the amusement ride field and holds no certifications to inspect amusement devices. Mr. Mooney has not kept his Level II NAARSO certification current. Therefore, these two inspectors are not certified by any recognized national organization to be qualified to inspect amusement devices. Finally, there is an irreconcilable conflict of interest that makes the DPS report suspect. The District Attorney of Worcester County, John Conte, is investigating the Shrewsbury incident, and has convened a Grand Jury to consider evidence. The DPS report states that the DPS investigated the matter jointly using the same State Police troopers as Mr. Conte. Using the same State Police troopers to investigate on behalf of both the District Attorney's office and the Department of Public Safety is highly improper in light of the DPS's own contributory failure to inspect the Sizzler ride and to otherwise comply with Massachusetts amusement device regulations. Jaro has serious concerns that the State Police, who are members of the same Executive Office of Public Safety as the DPS, may be inclined to deflect their investigation away from the DPS's serious and admitted shortcomings.

For more information contact: Alan E. Ramsay, Spokesperson for Jaro Amusements, Inc. 401-692-0876.

Sizzler accident report released

(Thursday, October 28, 2004) - The Massachusetts Department of Public Safety has released the accident report it is filing in connection with the September 19 Sizzler amusement ride fatality in Shrewsbury.