Charges dismissed against water park owners in case of 10-year-old decapitated on 17-story slide
By Anna Hopkins | Fox News
Criminal charges have been dismissed against a construction company and the owners of a Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kansas, after a 10-year-old boy was decapitated while riding a 17-story waterslide there in 2016.
Judge Robert Burns dismissed the second-degree murder charges against owners Jeff Henry and John Schooley on Friday on the basis that evidence showed to a grand jury during pre-trial "improperly influenced" the jury's decision to hand down indictments. Henry and Schooley were also facing charges of aggravated child endangerment and aggravated battery, Fox 4 KC reports.
The case centered around the death of Caleb Schwab, 10, who died while riding the 17-story Verruckt slide (named after the German word for "crazy"). It was billed as the world's largest waterslide at the time and was torn down last year in light of Caleb's death. The boy and his father, Secretary of State Scott Schwab, were at the park during a special event for Kansas lawmakers. The Schwabs received nearly $20 million in settlements after their son was killed.
Judge Burns ultimately sided with the defense that the prosecution's use of a Travel Channel video about the Verruckt slide misrepresented its safety to jurors during pre-trial hearings. The defense claimed that the video was scripted, sensationalized and intended for a television audience - not to be percieved as the true series of events.
The defense argued that the jury was not informed that they were watching a dramatization.
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https://www.foxnews.com/us/charges-dismissed-against-water-park-owners-in-case-of-10-year-old-decapitated-on-17-foot-slide
