US EditionJury awards $205M to the parents of a girl who fell to her death at a Colorado amusement park
Jury holds park, manufacturer, and employees liable with $123 million in punitive damages over safety failures on Haunted Mine Drop ride, one of Colorado's largest wrongful death settlements.
- A jury awarded $205 million to the parents of 6-year-old Wongel Estifanos on Friday after she fell to her death on the Haunted Mine Drop at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park.
- State investigators found Wongel Estifanos sat on top of two seat belts and two newly hired operators missed this during safety checks, while an untrained worker reset the alarm system and started the ride.
- Jurors found Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, Soaring Eagles Inc. and two ride operators liable, with the park responsible for most; Attorney for the Estifanos family said $41 million covers wrongful death and $123 million punitive damages.
- Glenwood Caverns said it worked with independent engineers to redesign the ride and warned the verdict puts the park's existence at serious risk.
- The award ranks among Colorado's largest wrongful death settlements, while the 9th Judicial District Attorney's Office declined criminal charges in 2022, a decision the Estifanos family called `cheap and meaningless`, and their attorney praised the jury.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Jury Awards $205 Million to the Parents of Girl Who Fell to Her Death at Colorado Amusement Park
DENVER—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 …
Associated Press News
Jury awards $205M to the parents of a girl who fell to her death at a Colorado amusement park
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.
Jury Awards $205 Million to Family of 6-Year-Old Girl Killed in Amusement Park Ride Tragedy
A Colorado jury has awarded $205 million to the family of 6-year-old Wongel Estifanos, who tragically died in 2021 after falling more than 100 feet from the Haunted Mine Drop ride at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. The verdict, reported by The Denver Post and local affiliates of NBC and CBS, comes four years after Wongel’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging negligence by both the amusement park and the ride’s manufacturer. It is amo…
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