Almost two years after a tragic accident at Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts claimed the life of 10-year-old Caleb Schwab, the co-owner of the waterpark, Jeffrey Wayne Henry, has been arrested. Currently, Henry is being held without bond “in Texas pending his return to Kansas to face charges in connection with the accident that caused the boy's death.” Last week the “company's Kansas City, Kansas park and its former director of operations, Tyler Austin Miles, were indicted in Kansas state court,” and soon after a federal warrant was issued for his arrest.For those who don't know, young Caleb was the son of Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab. Back on August 10, 2016, the Schwab family decided to visit Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts for a day of fun and relaxation. However, while there, Caleb decided to ride the Verrückt, “German for crazy or insane.” It’s known as the world’s tallest water slide, and after only moments on the ride, Caleb was tragically killed in an accident. The ride has remained closed since the accident.The family has since settled a handful of different lawsuits in relation to the accident, but responsible parties, such as Henry, are still going through the legal process and answering for their negligence that contributed to Caleb's death. According to court documents and jail records, the charges against Henry includes “one count of murder, 12 counts of aggravated battery, and five counts of aggravated endangerment of a child.”

Verrückt Water Slide; image courtesy of elisfkc via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/

How were the charges against Henry determined, though? For starters, during Miles' and the park's grand jury hearing last week in Wyandotte County, Kansas, it was determined that Henry bore some responsibility in the accident because he “designed the ride Caleb was killed on.” In addition, the indictment against Henry alleges that he “possesses no technical or engineering credentials, yet he controls decisions regarding Schlitterbahn design and construction projects.” Because of his lack of training and credentials, the indictment also alleged that “Henry and colleagues skipped 'fundamental steps in the design process.'” It also stated, “in place of mathematical and physics calculations, they rushed forward relying almost entirely on crude trial-and-error methods,” and alleged that “Henry was personally responsible for the rushed timeline.”Henry, along with Miles and other Schlitterbahn employees were also accused of knowing the particular ride was riddled with serious and dangerous design flaws but ignored those flaws in order to complete the ride's construction as quickly as possible. In fact, according to the indictment, “Henry saw the completion of the Verrückt as the equivalent of winning an arms race against rival waterparks.”Though Miles turned himself in last week and is awaiting trial in Wyandotte County, the Schlitterbahn water park is pushing back against the allegations against it and issued the following statement:“The allegation that we operated, and failed to maintain, a ride that could foreseeably cause such a tragic accident is beyond the pale of speculation. Many of us, and our children and grandchildren have ridden the ride with complete confidence as to its safety. Our operational mantra has been and will forever be Safety First...Rest assured, we stand behind our staff and all our parks. We will be fighting these charges aggressively.”

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Co-owner of Kansas water park where boy was killed is arrestedKansas water park executives charged with murder in boy's death