10-year-old thrown from ride at Taste of Summer in Antioch; carnival rides shut down
By BETH LAWRENCE
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CHICAGO (WBBM) — A 10-year-old boy has been airlifted to a local hospital after being thrown from a carnival ride at the Taste of Summer Festival in Antioch Sunday afternoon.
According to Antioch Police, when crews arrived on the scene around 2:40 p.m., officers discovered the injured child.
He was in critical condition Sunday evening.
A witness on the ride at the same time as the boy said his harness was coming loose.
“It was going up over my head, so I was trying every time I went, because it was going up, and I was almost about to fall out, I would slam down to close it, so that way I would not fall out,” the other boy said. “Maybe on the third time around, he almost did like a dive, like his hands were down, and his legs were straight, off the ride, and landed right outside the entrance gate.”
Antioch Mayor Scott Gartner ordered all of the rides at the event shut down to allow officials to review the safety of each ride, but the festival was still open.
An investigation is underway with the Illinois Department of Labor, which is responsible for ensuring the safety of carnival rides, the Antioch Police Department, and the Antioch Fire Department.
A village spokesman said the boy was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition. A family member told CBS 2 the child suffered serious injuries; including a skull fracture, broken jaw, and other medical conditions.
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