A woman was hurt Monday night after she plunged about three stories from a ride at a county fair in Virginia, police said.
The 47-year-old woman was at the Frederick County Fair in Clear Brook, Virginia, near the West Virginia border. She was secured in a ride called the Super Shot about 7 p.m., the Frederick County Virginia Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The ride descended and the woman's seat "came detached from the main frame of the ride and struck the ground," police said.
The victim fell about 40 feet, the equivalent of about three stories. She was rushed to Winchester Medical Center with multiple injuries, police said.
The Super Shot is a vertical drop ride that slowly lifts 12 passengers 120 feet into the air and then releases into a free fall with a maximum speed of 47 mph, according to the website of Larson International, which manufactures the ride together with A.R.M. Inc.
"Imagine sitting in mid air with your feet dangling, then CLICK! Now accelerating towards the earth you SCREAM! And then, you gently slow as the car glides in to the magnetic braking system, SMILES! That is the Super Shot drop tower experience that families are paying for again and again," the A.R.M. Inc. website says.
The cause of the failure of the ride is under investigation by the Frederick County Building Inspections Department.
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Fair organizers declined to comment.
Calls to Inner Shows, the North Carolina-based company that provided the rides, went unanswered. Neither Larson International nor A.R.M. Inc. immediately responded to inquiries.
