Illinois police seize carnival ride after boy, 10, was thrown from ride and seriously injured
Jul 20, 2023, 8:40 AM
ANTIOCH, Ill. (AP) — Northern Illinois police have seized a carnival ride as they continue investigating a Sunday incident in which a 10-year-old boy was seriously injured when he was thrown from his seat.
After the Illinois Department of Labor finished inspecting the ride Wednesday, police in the village of Antioch and the Lake County State’s Attorney’s office sought and obtained a search warrant from a judge to seize the ride as part of an “ongoing criminal investigation into the incident,” village officials said.
“The outcome of this week’s inspections of the ride necessitated us to immediately secure it as evidence,” Antioch Police Chief Geoffrey Guttschow said in a news release.
Police towed the Moby Dick ride on Wednesday from the village of Shorewood in Chicago’s south suburbs, where the ride’s owner had towed it on Monday, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) back to Antioch, near the Wisconsin border, village spokesman Jim Moran said Thursday.
Guttschow said the investigation by village police and the state’s labor department aims “to determine if any criminally reckless or negligent acts may have contributed to the accident.”
Antioch police said Monday that the Moby Dick ride was inspected this year and given a state permit.
In Sunday’s incident, the boy was riding the Moby Dick, which locks people in at the shoulders and then goes up and down as speed increases, when he was thrown from the ride during Antioch’s Taste of Summer festival.
He was taken to a Chicago hospital with injuries that include multiple facial fractures and a significant leg injury, Antioch police said Monday.
Police said they will not provide additional updates on the boy’s condition to respect his privacy. But they said in Wednesday’s news release that the boy’s “road to recovery will take a significant amount of time, and we wish for the family to focus on his well-being.”
The ride is owned and has been operated by All Around Amusement of Lockport, Illinois, officials said.
A telephone listing for the company called Thursday by The Associated Press went to a recording that said its mailbox was full.
