Inclusion Daily Express -- Another Man With Disabilities Dies At Amusement Ride (Sept. 21, 2004)

Inclusion Daily Express Logo

International Disability Rights News Service
Click here for today's headlines

Not a subscriber? Have the latest disability rights news delivered to your email Inbox every week day.
Subscribe to Inclusion Daily Express today!

Another Man With Disabilities Dies At Amusement Ride
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
September 21, 2004

SHREWSBURY, MASSACHUSETTS--An outing for a group of residents from a Shrewsbury institution went horribly wrong Sunday afternoon when a carnival ride broke, tossing two of them out onto the pavement.

Andrew R. Fohlin, 38, was killed in the accident when his head hit the ground.

David Mills, 48, was in serious but stable condition Monday at UMass Memorial Medical center. Dianne Derosier, 44, who was in another car, was treated for minor injuries and released. Derosier was apparently hit by debris when the ride came apart.

The residents of Glavin Regional Center, a state-operated institution housing people with developmental disabilities, were riding on the "Sizzler" at a carnival held at St. Mary's Church and parochial school in Shrewsbury.

According to the Boston Globe, the ride has three rotating arms, each holding four rotating sets of two-seat cars which resemble classic 1950s automobiles. It is only about three feet off the ground and does not rise into the air.

Thomas Gatzunis, the state's commissioner of public safety, said Monday that the car carrying Fohlin had been attached to the ride with one bolt that was too small and another that had been altered. Neither bolt met the manufacturer's specifications, he said.

On May 1, Stanley J. Mordarsky of Bloomfield, Connecticut, died when he was flung from the Superman Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England in Springfield, Massachusetts. Investigators later determined that the 55-year-old Mordarsky, who had cerebral palsy, weighed 230 pounds, and was 5 feet 2 inches tall, was not properly secured in the roller coaster seat.

Click here for top of this page

Here's what subscribers say about Inclusion Daily Express. . .

Get your news here!