Father sues Universal over daughter’s brain injury
A 13-year-old New Jersey girl suffered a brain injury last year after she fell off a raft ride at Universal’s Volcano Bay and was trapped under the ride, nearly drowning, according to allegations filed in a lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeking at least $15,000 was filed this month by the girl’s father, William McIntyre, in Orange Circuit Court against NBCUniversal Media, which operates Universal Orlando Resort under its theme park division. Volcano Bay had been open three months when the alleged incident occurred in August 2017.
The unnamed girl who is referred to as “A.M.” experienced a head injury that the lawsuit said left with her vision problems, severe headaches and dizziness among other health issues. The suit also accused the company of negligently designing, maintaining and supervising the water slide.
Universal has not disclosed any injuries on Maku Puihi Round Raft Rides in August 2017 or since Volcano Bay opened. Each quarter, Florida’s major theme parks are required to disclose to the state any visitors’ injuries or health-related issues that required more than 24 hours of hospitalization.
Paramedics rushed her to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and then “after triage and treatment,” she was taken to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to see brain and vision specialists closer to her home, the lawsuit said although it did not provide a timeline for how long she was hospitalized.
A Universal spokesman declined to comment on pending litigation.
On Puihi, six people sit around a round raft that travels “through a dark, winding cavern” and makes riders “feel the stomach-flipping thrill of zero-gravity hang time as you explode out into the far side of an immense funnel, then splash your way to safety at the bottom,” according to Universal’s website.
The teenager rode Puihi water ride on Aug. 23 while on a trip with her parents and family. She flipped off the raft as the ride reached the pool at the end of the ride, court documents said.
When she fell off, another rider’s foot “smashed violently into (her) head” and then the teenager was trapped under the ride as the 200-pound raft moved into the splash pool, according to the lawsuit.
“Due to the blow to her head and submersion,” the lawsuit said, “(the teenager) may have lost consciousness, as she nearly drowned before a lifeguard pulled her out from underneath the raft,” the lawsuit said.
Afterward, the girl tried to stand but her legs buckled and she collapsed.
The ordeal gave the girl regulars nightmares about being trapped underwater.
“A former member of the swim team, (the teenager) has been so traumatized on account of believing she was going to drown,” court documents said. “(She) insists she never wants to go in water again, whether at the beach or a pool, and still suffers from nightmares.”
The family’s attorney, Miamibased Mason Kerns, said the theme park told them a video of the incident exists but refused to release it. Kerns declined to comment further.