Boy, 10, Injured In California Water Slide Accident
DUBLIN, Calif. (KDKA) - An investigation is underway after a 10-year-old boy fell off a slide at a waterpark in Dublin, California.
The Emerald Plunge slide features an 80-degree drop.
When the boy reached the bottom of the slide, he flew off and rolled onto the concrete.
The boy was taken to the hospital to be treated for scrapes and was released.
"The wave took them over the edge of the catch basin. They rode that edge for a little bit and then they got scraped up on the cement," Parks & Community Services Director James Rodems said. "You want everything to go perfect, but it's an aquatics park. Pools are the highest risk functions that we use as a municipality."
Everyone who rides the Emerald Plunge has to be at least 48 inches tall, but there is no weight requirement.
Meanwhile, the exact same slide is used in water parks all around the world.
"Yeah, this is not a custom slide made for the city of Dublin. This is sort of an off-the-shelf slide," Dublin City Manager Linda Smith said.
There isn't anything exactly like the Emerald Plunge in the Pittsburgh area, but some are close.
Sandcastle has a free-fall slide, that starts 85 feet above the finish.
Kalahari in Sandusky, Ohio, just opened a new outdoor waterpark this year. One of its slides has a near-vertical drop.
A similar water ride just opened at Cedar Point this year. The Point Plunge starts with a vertical six-story drop, but riders are enclosed inside a tube for the entire ride.
There have been no major accidents at any local parks.
Water parks are not regulated by the federal government.
More than 4,200 people are taken to the hospital every year after being injured at public water parks.
According to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, 29 people have died on amusement rides or water slides since 2010.
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