Injury on 2nd Fair Ride Unreported, State Says

Hours after a woman was injured on the Adrenaline Drop ride at the Orange County Fair on Sunday, another rider was hurt on a different attraction -- in an accident that the company operating the ride apparently failed to report as state law requires.

In this second accident, which was not disclosed to the public, a large metal pin came loose from a ride called the Booster, hitting rider Traci Tomack in the face about 10 p.m. Tomack, a 23-year-old aspiring actress from Northridge, suffered a broken jaw, several broken teeth and facial wounds requiring more than 20 stitches, her parents said.

Ride operators said they shut down the ride for the night, made repairs and put it back in operation when the fair reopened Tuesday after a day off.

But not until Wednesday, after being questioned by The Times, did they report the accident to state officials. The state labor code says the ride operator must “immediately by telephone” notify the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health when an injury requires more than “ordinary first aid treatment.”

The Booster consists of a 131-foot beam that pivots on its center, carrying four passengers at both ends. As the beam rotates at about 50 mph, the passengers spin in harnesses.

Tony Fiori, a spokesman for ride operator Ray Cammack Shows, said the pin was one of eight holding the bolts that attached the sign to the ride and that it was not needed for the ride to operate safely. “There was never a time the ride was in jeopardy,” he said.

The pin is about a half-inch in diameter and about 6 inches long, said Jeff Miller, vice president of Fabbri Amusement Inc. of Arlington, Texas, the North American Division of the Italian company that manufactured the ride.

Those connected with the fair offered conflicting accounts about when the accident was reported -- and whether they were required to report it at all.

Fiori said Tuesday that the company didn’t report the accident because it wasn’t life-threatening and because Tomack was taken to the hospital by friends, rather than an ambulance. On Wednesday, he said it was reported to a state investigator who had come to look at the Adrenaline Drop on Monday.

Barry Schaible, the fair’s safety consultant, also said the accident was reported to the investigator Monday.

But Dean Fryer, a spokesman for the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, said that Fiori on Monday only asked a state amusement ride inspector at the fair to approve the replacement of the eight pins on the ride sign. Fryer said the inspector was not told about the accident or injury.

On Wednesday, a day after a Times reporter began asking about the accident, Fiori called the division’s Sacramento office to report the injury. Fryer said Fiori characterized the accident as not being serious enough to require a report.

But Fryer said it was the responsibility of Cammack Shows, which operates every ride at the fair except Adrenaline Drop, to report the accident as soon as possible. He said that reporting it Wednesday did not meet that standard if Tomack’s injuries were as reported.

He said the division has a 24-hour answering service that notifies investigators of accidents. “We encourage amusement companies and parks to report accidents and let us determine whether they’re reportable or not,” Fryer said.

The department will investigate whether the ride operator handled the incident properly, he said.

The division can shut down a ride and refer criminal cases to the district attorney’s office. The Division of Occupational Safety and Health inspected the ride last week as it was being set up, Fryer said.

Fiori said there had been other accidents on the 59 rides the company operates at the fair but that all had been “minor incidents.”

The accident occurred 10 hours after Aidyl Sofia-Gonzalez of La Canada-Flintridge was hurt on Adrenaline Drop, which offers thrill-seekers a 70- to 80- foot free-fall drop. Inspectors say a safety net was not raised high enough, causing Sofia-Gonzalez to hit the ground with a thump. After spending a day in the hospital, she went home Monday.

Tomack’s mother, Zoe Tomack, said a lawyer advised her daughter not to discuss the accident. She said her daughter was an extra on “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde” and was attending the fair with friends.

“I’m livid,” Zoe Tomack said. “You don’t go to a fair to have this happen.”

She said her daughter’s friends took her to the hospital emergency room after the accident because she thought it would be faster than waiting for an ambulance.

She said that her daughter spent all night at the hospital and that the plastic surgeon who treated her said she would need reconstructive and oral surgery. “This was by no means ‘Put a Band-Aid on it and see you later, kid,’ ” she said.