Man claims he was paralyzed from riding ‘violent, rough’ old wooden roller coaster: lawsuit
A North Carolina man claims he was paralyzed after riding a “violent and rough” old wooden roller coaster, his lawyer said, adding that his client “gets on fine and then gets off as a quadriplegic,” according to a report.
Kul Sannyashi suffered a spinal cord injury and became a quadriplegic after riding the Swamp Fox roller coaster at Family Kingdom amusement park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on July 23, 2021, according to separate lawsuits filed by Sannyashi and his wife Gangia Adhikari on Thursday.
“The allegation is that he gets on fine and then gets off as a quadriplegic,” the couple’s lawyer Morgan Martin told the Sun News Friday. “It’s such a sad, sad day for that young man, who is just in horrible condition.”
Martin said there have been many reviews in past years that the wooden coaster is “violent and rough.”
It was not immediately clear how the ride allegedly caused the catastophic injury.
The couple brought claims in a South Carolina circuit court of negligence against Family Kingdom for failing to properly inspect and make the ride safe, encouraging guests to use it and for failing to warn visitors of its “latent dangers,” the wife’s suit claims.
“While riding the roller coaster as a result of the negligence, carelessness, recklessness, willfulness and wantonness of the defendants, [Adhikari’s] husband suffered an acute injury to his spinal cord which caused quadriplegia,” the court papers allege.
The ride was opened in 1966 but was renovated after Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
The park failed “to correct the latent defects that rendered the roller coaster extremely dangerous, more so than a typical roller coaster,” the filing claims.
After taking the roller coaster, Sannyashi was forced to undergo surgeries and hospitalization in the intensive care unit. He now requires round-the-clock care and nursing and suffers extreme pain and mental anguish because of his permanent injuries.
The suits are seeking unspecified damages for Sannyashi’s incapacitation, loss of his ability to earn an income, and his inability to no longer carry out his “regular affairs and duties,” the Sun reported.
An email to the park was not immediately returned Monday.
