Failure to Secure Seat Belt Alleged in Knott’s Fatality

Lori Mason-Larez might not have been buckled into her seat when she fell to her death from a flume ride at Knott’s Berry Farm, her family’s attorney said Wednesday.

Operators of the Perilous Plunge ride did not adequately check and secure the 40-year-old Duarte woman, and she might have been sitting on her buckled seat belt, said Los Angeles lawyer Marc Feldman.

A Knott’s Berry Farm spokeswoman said the accident remains under investigation by the state and the park’s internal review team. The ride has not reopened.

Mason-Larez died Sept. 21 in a fatal fall while the water ride descended about 115 feet at speeds up to 50 mph. It is outfitted with two security restraints, a seat belt and a lap bar. When the ride returned to the dock, park employees said both were securely in place.

“Clearly, this woman should not have been ejected from this ride,” Feldman said.

He said the family has hired engineers who are investigating the biomechanics and safety mechanisms of the ride. A lawsuit filed Tuesday accused Knott’s Berry Farm and ride manufacturer Intamin Co. of negligence, strict liability for a defective product and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Officials from Intamin could not be reached for comment.

In previous statements, some officials, including park officials, have questioned whether the woman’s large size may have contributed to the fall. One ride expert said it is possible that the woman’s weight shifted, causing her to slip over the restraints and out of the boat on its steep decline.

But even if the ride was not adequately designed for someone of Mason Larez’s size--paramedic reports listed her weight as 330 pounds--Feldman said, “there was absolutely no weight limitation at all” for Perilous Plunge.

Three of the woman’s five children and her niece witnessed the accident. Feldman said she was the family’s “strong, central figure. . . . This family has been completely torn apart,” he said.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified general and punitive damages, as well as medical, funeral and burial expenses.