Review of Police Policies on Disneyland Is Sought

This city’s top police detective on Friday called for a review of how his department handles major accidents at Disneyland, as the city manager ordered a full report on the Christmas Eve accident that killed a tourist at the park.

Roger Baker, the captain of police detectives, said he wishes his investigators had reached the scene earlier. He said it was unfortunate that Disneyland officials cleaned up the site of the accident before his department had a chance to investigate.

Police reports released Thursday showed that investigators did not arrive at the park until almost three hours after the accident, and then spent an hour and a half being briefed by park officials in a conference room before going out to the scene of the incident.

“We need to look at how those scenes are processed,” Baker said, noting that Disneyland officials didn’t even photograph the scene before the cleanup.

Disneyland workers mopped up and hauled away evidence from the area shortly after a heavy metal cleat from the Columbia sailing ship ride wrenched free, fatally injuring the tourist and severely injuring his wife and a Disneyland employee.

Concerns about the accident and the way it was handled led Anaheim City Manager James D. Ruth to promise a “comprehensive chronological” report to the City Council next week.