Jury awards $205M to the parents of a girl who fell to her death at a Colorado amusement park

Key Points

• A jury awarded $205 million to the parents of 6-year-old Wongel Estifanos, who fell to her death on a ride at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Colorado.
• The girl was not properly strapped in during the ride, which involved a drop of about 100 feet, and the operators failed to notice critical safety issues.
• Jurors found the amusement park, the ride's manufacturer, and two operators liable for the incident, with the park held responsible for the majority of the payout.
• A spokesperson for Glenwood Caverns indicated that the verdict jeopardizes the park's future and mentioned that measures were taken to redesign the ride following the tragedy.

DENVER (AP) — A jury has awarded $205 million to the parents of a 6-year-old girl who fell to her death at a Colorado amusement park after she wasn't strapped in to a ride.

The verdict was reached Friday in Glenwood Springs, where Wongel Estifanos fell about 100 feet (30 meters) to her death on the Haunted Mine Drop ride at the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in 2021.

The floor drops out from underneath riders, who plunge down a mine shaft strapped to their seats. State investigators found Estifanos was sitting on top of two seat belts instead of wearing them across her lap, and two newly hired operators never noticed despite doing checks. Investigators also found that an alarm system warned of a problem, but one of the workers reset the system and started the ride because they weren’t trained well enough to know what to do about it.

Jurors found the amusement park, the maker of the ride and two operators should pay the verdict, with the park responsible for paying most of it, according to court documents.

In a statement to The Denver Post, Glenwood Caverns spokesperson Kimberly Marcum said the park worked with independent engineers to redesign the ride after Estifanos’ death. She also said the verdict puts the park's existence “at serious risk.”

Marcum did not immediately return a telephone call or email from The Associated Press on Wednesday asking whether the park planned to appeal the verdict.