foreign [Music] 's favorite place in the world was the Paramount Great America amusement park in Santa Clara California the park was located near his home and he would visit often in August of 1999 Joshua his mother and his friends returned to the park for a day of excitement and thrills unfortunately Joshua would never return home whilst riding his favorite ride the Drop Zone stunt Tower disaster struck and he was ejected and sent plummeting to the ground this is the infamous story of the Drop Zone stunt Tower disaster unfortunately there isn't really a lot of information
about him but we do know that Joshua Lee smurfer was born on the 26th of July 1987 the parents Tammy and Terry smurfer he grew up near the park in Sunnyvale California and was a sweet and quiet young kid according to reports Joshua had severe mental and physical handicaps but none of these would have disqualified him from riding that day he loved going to the theme park and despite his disabilities he would go on most of the rides the Drop Zone stunt Tower was his favorite he was also described as a lovable little kid and
played in a special little league team for disabled children the 22nd of August 1999 was a warm and sunny afternoon which showed Joshua his mother two friends and two children visit Paramount Great America amusement park for a day out California's Great America amusement park opened on the 20th of May 1976 and is billed as America's top destination for Thrill Seekers and families alike the park has over 60 rides restaurants and even a water park one of these rides includes the Drop Zone stunt Tower the Drop Zone stunt Tower is a drop tower ride which opened
on March the 16th 1996. it was named after the Paramount film Drop Zone on the Drop Zone passengers free for 224 feet which is equivalent to 22 stories down in Just 4 seconds the ride Falls at around 60 miles per hour once Riders reach the top they are offered views of Levi's Stadium and on a clear day even San Francisco depending on which way you are facing the ride was the fastest ride at the park and the safety restraints included a head shoulder restraint but no safety belt on that day the group had been at
the park for a few hours before deciding to ride the Drop Zone stunt Tower ride at around 3 20 p.m Joshua had been on the ride before he would go on with his mother Tammy but a few of the cars were out of service meaning that there wasn't room for her instead Joshua went on with a family friend and two of the younger children before the ride set off an error message was shown on one of the operator's computers which forced them to shut the ride down for the day with Joshua's group being The Last
Riders for that day the ride began and they slowly started to rise to the top where they would sit at 220 feet high a countdown then began four three two and one the car would then plummet to the ground Tammy was watching From Below what she saw next would haunt her for the rest of her life she stated when the ride was on its way down my son flew out of his seat I screamed and ran to the exit gate thinking that I could catch him Gary Winslow who was waiting in line saw the incident
unfold he claimed I saw the bar fly up after the ride had started the boy was kind of struggling to stay in then he flew out feet first he flipped cartwheel style over and fell straight on his head my sister and I ran over to him but it was obvious that he was dead his mother came over in hysterics yelling why didn't they put the bar down how could this happen it freaked me out I knelt right there and said a prayer Joshua fell at 62 miles per hour head first onto the concrete below five
feet away from where his mother stood according to Tammy his head split open with such impact that his brains were on her shoes Joshua died on impact and an investigation was launched immediately the police spoke to a witness who had claimed that Joshua's harness was not checked by operators before the ride began but this is disputed they also found that the ride operators were children one was a 14 year old volunteer and this is below the age limit needed to be a ride operator there were conflicting reports that the 16 year old who strapped Joshua
in did not do an effective job despite this The District Attorney office for Santa Clara County declared that there was no basis for filing charges against Paramount Great America according to the team of safety experts and independent investigators the safety harness used to restrain Josh was in a down and locked position for the duration of the ride the ride was mechanically sound and they found no evidence of operator error according to them a Paramount Great America representative stated despite our extensive investigation to date we may never know exactly what happened to Joshua we do know
that Joshua was somehow able to slide between the locked harness and the seat and we have taken extra steps to ensure that they can never happen again they also made a donation in Joshua's memory after the incident the park installed an additional safety strap and the ride remains open to this day Joshua's family did end up suing the park but I was unable to find the outcome from this Joshua was then laid to rest in Mission City Memorial Park in Santa Clara California unfortunately this case at the time went pretty much unnoticed it wasn't until
the death of Kyrie Sampson who I have covered that it got brought to attention unfortunately for Joshua's family when they saw tyree's death on the news it brought them back to that day was able to operate if the harness was not at a level that was safe for the individual so just as with a relay in a car I'm not able to operate my car if my gas cap is not completely closed and so similarly why are we not doing this type of of Fail-Safe for a ride if a harness is not fully closed why
is the ride able to operate that eliminates all the questions out there on you know is size and issue is you know X Y or Z an issue the bottom line is why are these rides able to to operate if the harness is not in a safe position all right [Music]
