Knott’s Employee Hurt by Train Ride

A Knott’s Berry Farm employee was seriously injured Saturday evening when he was struck by the engine of the Calico railroad ride, authorities said.

It was the second time the popular ride has caused an employee casualty in recent years.

The worker, whose name was not released, was in stable condition with two injured legs Saturday night at UCI Medical Center, where he was taken by helicopter, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Both legs of the employee were trapped beneath a section at the front of the train called the “cow catcher.”

Orange County firefighters used a “jaws of life” rescue device to lift the train off the man’s legs, said Dennis Shell, a department spokesman.

“He was obviously in pain and had suffered trauma to the lower part of his legs, but he was conversing with the paramedics, answering their questions,” Shell said.

The slow-moving steam engine has been in operation at the park since 1952, said park spokeswoman Susan Tierney.

All the passengers on the train were safely evacuated and the park remained open until its scheduled 10 p.m. closing time, Tierney said. The ride was shut down after the 7:30 p.m. accident, she said.

Park officials declined to comment on the cause of the accident, which they said will be investigated by the park, police and fire officials.

Representatives of Cal/OSHA were contacted after the accident and were expected to arrive at the park Saturday night, said Buena Park police Lt. Terry Branum.

“It’s not life-threatening at this point,” Branum said.

Park guests said they were startled Saturday by word of the accident.

“They had it all roped off and they wouldn’t say anything about it,” said John Sisko, 35, of Gardena, who spent the day at Knott’s with his wife and daughter.

Chris Allen, 16, of Los Alamitos said: “It needs to be a safe place, but now you question it.”

The accident marked the latest in a series of injuries at California amusement parks.

At Knott’s, it was the second involving the Calico ride, on which an employee was killed five years ago.

In 1996, Knott’s employee George Berecz was killed when he was crushed between two passenger cars on the Calico. His death was the first at the park since its 1920 opening.

Berecz, 55, was trying to separate two of the train’s five cars when they rolled together and crushed him.

In 1999, five people were injured at the park when a wooden plank fell off the GhostRider roller coaster and struck people in two cars.