Anybody remember this incident from opening year?
This article is from WAVY.
I still can remember Cindy Sarko talking about this on the news. I'd never heard her so pissed off! LOL
This article is from WAVY.
September 8, 2007 -
The posting of video shot by a cell phone has irked Busch Garden Officials.
The grainy video shows Matthew Sassone, an ODU student, stuck on the new Griffon roller coaster ride unable to get out of the seat because the safety harness wouldn't release.
Sassone told Wavy.Com, "I started panicking. My legs were shaking, and it was so tight it cut my circulation turning my legs purple."
The video was shot by Sassone's friend Clayton Mercurio of Virginia Beach and posted on YouTube's Website.
Cindy Sarko Director of Communications for Busch Gardens Europe responds, "We also believe they were trying to get their 5 minutes of fame because they found it necessary to video tape our trying to get Matthew out of the seat."
But Sarko goes further blaming Sassone for tampering with the ride, "He poked some kind of a metal object whether it be a screwdriver or something to bend the harness to allow that harness to open properly as it should have done."
Untrue says Sassone, "I was sitting in the seat when it happened. I did not damage the ride. I did not."
Sarko claims that out of the 1.5 million Griffon riders since May, only twice has the harness refused to lift at rides end and both times on two different days involved Matthew Sassone.
Sarko says, "Our experts have concluded: Operations, maintenance engineers and safety experts with more than 30 years of experience in this business have concluded, there was a deliberate act done by these two gentlemen."
Clayton Mercurio, offended by Sarko's accusation responds, "the fact it happened twice shows there's a problem with the ride. The fact it happened twice shows that they need to look into why Matthew got stuck on it two times in the same seat in the same row."
Busch Gardens slapped both men with No Trespassing orders, took away their season passes with no refund ordering Mercurio to stay away for a year, and Sassone for two years.
I still can remember Cindy Sarko talking about this on the news. I'd never heard her so pissed off! LOL