Family expresses fair safety concerns after daughter not secured properly on Mega Drop

MOBILE, Ala (WPMI) — Terrifying moments at the Greater Gulf State Fairgrounds.

A Mobile family is shaken up, after they claim their little girl was not completely strapped in on an amusement ride on Friday.

They are now speaking out... disappointed in how the situation was handled, and say they are concerned for the safety of other fairgoers.

9-year-old Isabella Carmichael was excited to ride the "Mega Drop" for the first time until she says panic struck.

"I felt like I was going to die," said Isabella Carmichael, Mega Drop rider.

Her parents say the fair employees did not properly fasten her safety straps.

As soon as we were like they are coming back around to check the ride starts going," Paige Raynor, co-parent to Isabella said, "I'm screaming, I'm jumping, I'm hollering, and I can see the terror in my daughter's face."

If you take a look at the video, it appears the two workers wearing red walk past the little girl...not acknowledging her secondary safety belt is dangling by her feet.

The ride then begins to rise, and you can see the look of terror on Isabella's face.

"It started going up without my buckle on, and it was just horrifying," said Carmichael.

Joshua Woods is the executive director for The Grounds. He says all safety measures were taken, and the Mega Drop rising in the video was not the ride starting, but a safety measure to check on the riders.

"The primary safety device that did engage, and that's why the ride was able to run. As they are lifting the ride up, you can see the employees looking. Obviously, they noticed within that safety zone that they missed something, and they did. they did not buckle the secondary precautionary buckle, so they brought the ride back down safely and slowly," Joshua Woods, Executive Director for The Grounds said, "In this case released the rider, made sure everyone was good, and the ride continued after that."

Woods says all staff were present, they addressed the issue, and to double-check, they required extra training.

"Those employees have retrained and also refocused that we have to make sure all points of safety are checked," said Woods.

The family says the extra training is not enough.

There needs to be more supervision of these individuals, and the operators of the rides. It's not fair that our children are paying for their irresponsibility and their negligence," said April Piper, Carmichael's mother.

The family says they plan to take legal action.