After being tossed from a funfair ride at a festival in Illinois, a 10-year-old child was seriously hurt.
The horrific occurrence occurred on Sunday during the Taste of Summer festival in Antioch, an Illinois-Wisconsin bordering suburb of Chicago.
The festival’s Moby Dick attraction, which appears to swing riders back and forth many feet above the ground, is where the victim was riding.
The victim was identified by police as a a 10-year-old boy who suffered multiple facial and jaw fractures, as well as ‘significant’ injuries to one of his legs. He was rushed to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, then flown by medevac to Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago due to the extent of his injuries.
Family members identified the injured child as Huntley Daniels, of TKTKTK. They have set up a GoFundMe campaign for Daniels, who they said was ‘flung’ about 10-20 feet into the air from the ride.
‘He’s a strong kid,’ Daniels’ uncle wrote in a post on the crowdfunding site. ‘He once broke his arm and pushed the bone back in, on his own because “it didn’t hurt”. Truly remarkable kid.’
Antioch Police immediately secured the ride to prevent any further ‘tampering,’ the department said in a news release.
The Illinois Department of Labor is responsible for annually inspecting carnival rides in the state. If they do not pass their inspection, they are not allowed to operate or be insured in the state’s borders.
An inspector from the Department of Labor was sent, who quickly issued a stop order for the attraction. The department is currently investigating the ride ‘bolt by bolt,’ authorities said.
Police are currently conducting an investigation alongside the State Attorney’s office into any criminal wrongdoing at the festival.
Antioch Mayor Scott Gartner later issued an executive order to halt all rides at the festival after the incident.