Knott’s Officials Pledge Overhaul of Roller Coaster

Fearing a repeat of Monday’s accident that injured five park visitors, Knott’s Berry Farm officials on Tuesday pledged to overhaul the park’s longest and most heavily promoted ride, the wooden GhostRider roller coaster.

Visual examination cannot detect the weakness that caused a 3-foot shard of wood along the track to work loose under the coaster’s pounding and flip up and strike the riders, Knott’s General Manager Jack Falfas said.

Falfas said he will order all suspect pieces of wood clamped together with metal brackets or find another way to ensure there are no more such accidents.

With state regulation of amusement park rides looming, Knott’s and Paramount’s Great America in Santa Clara, where an accident on a free-fall ride killed a park-goer Sunday, moved quickly to investigate.

On Tuesday, nearly a dozen ride experts converged on Knott’s to help determine why the board, a trim piece that bore no weight, broke loose beneath GhostRider.

Richard Brown, a biodynamics specialist retained by Knott’s, said the ride, billed as the longest wooden roller coaster west of the Mississippi, will remain closed until the manufacturer, Custom Coaster Inc., decides it can be reopened.

Paramount’s Great America in Santa Clara hired the consulting firm Exponent Inc. to help find out how 12-year-old Joshua Smurphat of Sunnyvale plummeted to his death Sunday from the 224-foot Drop Zone ride.

Police are focusing on whether the worker assigned to check Joshua’s harness was adequately trained and whether the worker checked the harness.

Santa Clara Police Sgt. Anton Morec said the worker assigned to check the harness was a seasonal employee under 18 years old, but he refused to divulge the name.

Park spokesman Timothy Chenaud denied the harness had come open, saying it was closed when the chair reached the ground.