Mom Who Watched Child Fall 20 Feet From a Zipline Is Now Suing

The 10-year-old boy suffered serious injuries including broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and head injuries.

A Florida mother watched as her 10-year-old plummeted 20 feet from a zipline onto a concrete floor, and now she’s suing the owner of the park where it happened.

The incident happened on September 1 at Urban Air Adventure Park in Lakeland, FL, where the boy suffered serious injuries including broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and head injuries. He was reportedly flown to a hospital by helicopter. After a long recovery, the boy was released to go home.

Then on November 4, the boy’s mother Kimberly Barnes filed a lawsuit against the company that owns Urban Air Adventure Park. The lawsuit alleges that the boy’s harness was not properly secured, and also had a design flaw which contributed to the fall.

“At the employee level, they obviously could’ve done more, but at the organizational level, there should’ve been more measures in place to prevent something like this from happening,” Steven Capriati, Barnes’ attorney, told WFLA.

The Florida Department of Agriculture conducted an investigation and found that the harness was not properly buckled around his legs, which caused the boy to fall out.

“Urban Air is fully committed to the uncompromising safety and well-being of our guests and employees,” Urban Air wrote in a statement. “As a family-owned and operated company, safety is at the heart of everything we do. We take matters of this nature very seriously and can assure that appropriate measures have been taken. All staff members have been retrained on all attractions and the employees in question are no longer with us. We are thankful to hear that the child is back in school and we will continue to keep him and his family in our thoughts and prayers through his full recovery.”