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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Latest on charges filed in the death of a 10-year-old boy on a waterslide at a Kansas waterpark (all times local):
4:45 p.m.
A grand jury indictment says officials who designed, built and operated a giant waterslide at a Kansas water park knew it was "a deadly weapon" when they allowed a 10-year-old boy to get into a raft that later went airborne and decapitated him.
The Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kansas, and a former executive at the park were indicted Friday on involuntary manslaughter and several other charges in the August 2016 death of Caleb Schwab.
The indictment alleges that officials rushed the design and construction of the Verruckt waterslide. Also, the indictment says operators were aware of at least 13 other injuries — including two concussions — on the ride and that the specific raft Caleb was on went abnormally fast and would go airborne more frequently than other rafts.
A Schlitterbahn spokeswoman has not responded to requests for comments on the company's indictment.
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3:30 p.m.
A grand jury has indicted a corporation for involuntary manslaughter after a 10-year-old boy died on a giant waterslide at one of the company's water parks in Kansas.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced Friday that Schlitterbahn Waterpark of Kansas City, Kansas, was indicted along with a former executive in the August 2016 death of Caleb Schwab, who was decapitated on the 17-story "Verruckt" waterslide.
Schmidt said the indictments also involve injuries suffered by 13 other people, including four children, who rode on the slide. The executive, Tyler Miles, and Schlitterbahn also face charges of interference with law enforcement.
A spokeswoman for Schlitterbahn didn't immediately return a call for comment.
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2:30 p.m.
A former executive for Schlitterbahn pleaded not guilty Friday to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 10-year-old boy who was decapitated on a waterslide at the Kansas water park.
Twenty-nine-year-old Tyler Austin Milesa, former operations director for the company, was charged Friday in the August 2016 death of Caleb Schwab at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kansas.
Miles is the only person criminally charged so far in the boy's death, which occurred when the raft he was on hit a pole and netting on the 17-story Verruckt waterslide. Miles also faces 19 other charges.
Schlitterbahn officials defended Miles after the charges were filed, saying they stood by him and were shocked by the allegations against him.
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2 p.m.
A former executive with the Kansas water park where a 10-year-old boy died on a giant waterslide has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Tyler Austin Miles, who was an operations director for Schlitterbahn, was booked into the Wyandotte County jail Friday and is being held on $50,000 bond.
Caleb Schwab died in August 2016 on the 17-story Verruckt water slide at the park in western Kansas City, Kansas. An autopsy revealed the boy was decapitated when the raft that he and two women were on went airborne. It hit a pole that supported nets that were designed to keep riders from flying off the ride.
Winter Prospapio, a spokeswoman for Schlitterbahn, said the company was "deeply disappointed" that someone was charged for the "terrible accident." She said Schlitterbahn stood by Miles, who left the company for another job in September.
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