Investigators Can’t Explain Why Boy Fell From Ride

Four-year-old Brandon Zucker was behaving and sitting quietly on the Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin at Disneyland when he fell out, his father told police in an investigative report released Tuesday.

The 18-page Anaheim police report paints an emotional and horrific scene and raises questions about Disneyland’s medical response time and how the boy could have fallen out of the ride. The Roger Rabbit attraction was to have been the culmination of the family’s day at Disneyland to celebrate mother Victoria Zucker’s 40th birthday.

Brandon, from Canyon Country in northern Los Angeles County, was pinned under the ride for several minutes Sept. 22 before he was freed. The 45-pound boy, who was unconscious and with no pulse when paramedics arrived, remains in critical condition in a drug-induced coma at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

Although the report contains some new details, it sheds little light on why Brandon tumbled from the “taxi cab” he shared with his mother and 6-year-old brother, Nicholas, fell under the moving car behind them, then was dragged for about 10 feet.

Victoria Zucker has not yet been interviewed by police or investigators from the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health who are conducting a probe of the accident, which occurred about 10:15 p.m.

There had been early speculation that Brandon might have slipped out from under the lap bar because he was wiggling around, reaching for something or trying to leave the ride.

But David Zucker, Brandon’s father, told police his son was not standing or jumping around.

“He said that had he seen him do that, he would have told him to sit down,” the report states. “Zucker said that the cars moved left to right abruptly during the ride. He said he did not hear his son scream or make any comment before he fell.”

David Zucker shared a car with Brandon’s grandmother, Jeane Kurland. They were riding directly behind Brandon in the second of a two-car carriage numbered 8A and 8B, according to the report.

He saw his son “hitting the floor” and immediately jumped out of his car to ask Disneyland employees to stop the ride, which continued even after Brandon fell. Brandon was seated nearest the cut-out door of the cab.

The ride’s operator, Alain Mentel, told police it appeared that the ride stopped automatically, but that he also pushed the emergency button after he was alerted by David Zucker.

Both Zucker and Kurland told police the lap bar on their car did not appear to lower. The report does not address the position of Brandon’s lap bar.

“[Zucker] said that the bar did not come back down, nor did it lock in any position,” the report states. And Kurland explained, “There were no safety straps and the bar did not come over their laps, but [the mother’s] hands extended out to hold a bar which was located in front of her.”

According to investigators with Cal/OSHA, the state safety agency, the lap bars in the ride’s cars are raised and lowered manually by the Disneyland ride operator, and work independently of each other. Whether the bar in the rear car was up had no bearing on the lap bar in Brandon’s car, the investigator said.

Disneyland spokesman Ray Gomez said the park was still investigating the specific circumstances that led up to the accident.

Park officials do not know what Brandon was doing at the time of the accident because the car had left the loading area and was beyond view of employees.

Gomez said park officials believe that their employees followed all park procedures, including those for lap bars.

“Our lap bars are designed to come down and lock,” Gomez said. “Our written procedure is for two cast members to check lap bars on every vehicle with a final visual check given by the ride operator.”

The ride remains closed pending the outcome of the state investigation.

In a statement released last week, Disneyland Resort President Cynthia Harriss said there was no mechanical malfunction on the ride and that all safety systems and procedures were being reviewed. Early in the investigation, Anaheim police also said it appeared that the ride did not malfunction.

The report also includes statements from witnesses raising concerns about Disneyland’s safety procedures and response. It remains unclear exactly what time the park’s emergency personnel first arrived on scene and how long Brandon was trapped.

Park guests who witnessed the aftermath told police they were shaken and traumatized after seeing Brandon’s lifeless body and felt helpless while the boy’s anguished parents stood by.

Frank Leon and wife Allison Fields of San Bernardino said David Zucker came out of the ride three times screaming and begging for help from guests who ultimately jumped the ride railing to aid the distraught father.

Zucker believed his son was dying and Veronica Zucker screamed, “Not my baby! Please God, anything but my baby!” witnesses told police.

Another witness, Gregory Kammerer, who tried to help lift the heavy car, also recalled that the ride was still moving when David Zucker shouted for help.

Kammerer told police he was “so upset at the response time of medical personnel that he went to Disneyland City Hall.”

But the report did not include specific information about exactly when the accident occurred and how long it took Disneyland emergency personnel to respond.

Park spokesman Gomez declined to provide exact response times for the emergency personnel or maintenance crew. He said he didn’t have any firsthand knowledge whether one of the ride employees stayed with the family, although they have no reason to doubt the employee’s statement that he did.

Witnesses earlier had told The Times that they saw no Disneyland employees at the scene of the accident. But the workers told police they went into the ride and that a supervisor stayed with the family, and touched Brandon, asking him, “How are you doing, little guy?”

The employees told police that two cameras monitor the ride but were not located in the area where the accident occurred.

One Anaheim police detective observed that the ride stopped in the Bullina China Shop section in the first third of the attraction. Brandon’s clothing, a green and red sweatshirt, blue jeans and white tennis shoes, lay near the ride. They had been cut off by paramedics. A pair of Mickey Mouse ears were there too, resting next to car 8B.

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Times staff writers Jessica Garrison and Meg James contributed to this report.