Markey slams Sizzler probe
Timing of inspection hit
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U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey is criticizing a federal investigation of the death of a 14-year-old girl on a Sizzler carnival ride in Colorado, saying the probe has been hampered because authorities allowed the device to be moved before it was examined.
The Malden Democrat, a leading amusement ride safety advocate in Congress, had called on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to look into whether the spin rate of the ride had anything to do with the death of April Benally at a carnival in Durango, Colo., May 28.
A fatal Sizzler accident at a Shrewsbury church festival last fall also led to an investigation by the commission.
The investigation into that accident, which killed Andrew R. Fohlin, a 38-year-old resident of a group home for the mentally retarded, produced stiffer new inspection guidelines for the popular ride, which was first manufactured in the 1970s.
In the recent Colorado death, the teenager, who lived in a group home and reportedly was on medication, lost consciousness while on the ride and died a short time later.
The Sizzler’s owner, Steve Broetsky of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Frazier Shows, reopened the ride later that night after it was inspected by local police. The carnival has since moved to other locations.
The commission, which oversees traveling carnivals, agreed to investigate several days after the incident.
“The Consumer Product Safety Commission has a responsibility to every family that visits a carnival or state fair this summer to insist that accident sites not be disturbed while they are being investigated,” said David H. Moulton, chief of staff for Markey. “It appears they’re not fulfilling that responsibility.
“That company was allowed to move on, and we don’t know what the cause was, whether it was mechanical, the operator misbehaving or the rider misbehaving,” he said. “The investigation is compromised beyond repair.”
Mr. Broetsky did not return several messages seeking comment.
Commission officials said they could not comment specifically on the investigation, but they acknowledged their investigators haven’t yet physically examined the ride.
“But we can assure the public, whether in Massachusetts, Colorado or anywhere else in this country, that our thorough investigation will include an investigation of the ride by CPSC investigators and mechanical engineers,” said Scott Wolfson, a commission spokesman.
Mr. Markey and U.S. Rep. John T. Salazar, D-Colo., had asked the commission to investigate whether the death of a 24-year-old woman 19 months earlier on the same ride at an Arizona carnival could also have been related to the Sizzler’s spin speed.
The lawmakers noted that the agency has the expertise, because of the Shrewsbury investigation, to determine whether the Sizzler’s spin rate is acceptable and to improve the machine’s safety.
Commission officials, meanwhile, say they are looking into both the Colorado death and the death of Monique Mendoza after she took a ride on a Frazier Shows Sizzler in Prescott Valley, Ariz., Nov. 1, 2003.
A coroner ruled that the probable cause of death of Ms. Mendoza, who had a history of thyroid problems, was cardiac arrhythmia.
“We’re going to be taking a very close look at the speed at which the amusement ride was going and the condition of the individuals who experienced the tragic deaths with the Sizzler incidents,” Mr. Wolfson said. “It’s going to be a very thorough investigation and we’re really going to find the best way to prevent these deaths in the future.”
Another national amusement safety advocate, Kathy Fackler, who runs the California Web site Saferparks, also blasted the federal agency.
Earlier this week, Ms. Fackler posted a long statement criticizing the commission’s investigation and weak regulation of the carnival industry in the 13 states in the West, Southwest and Midwest, including Colorado, Arizona and Minnesota — an environment that allowed Mr. Broetsky’s 23-year-old son to inspect the Sizzler and put it back in operation.
John J. Keough, owner of the Sizzler in the Shrewsbury accident, bought the 25-year-old ride from a Minnesota carnival operator in 2001.
In an interview, Ms. Fackler said she is concerned by “the fact that there’s a huge gap between the time the girl died on the ride and the time government inspectors got to the ride.”
She said, “What happened in the time in between?”
Shaun Sutner can be reached by e-mail at .