Man Drowns at New York Amusement Park

Looks like poor playland is going to get more bad publicity from this. Third person to die in 3 years, seems none of them playlands fault.

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_186062303.html

*** Edited 7/5/2006 4:36:05 PM UTC by supermandl***

That is a shame, but what was the guy doing in there? Was he looking for something and tripped? It seems odd that he started out wading and then began to struggle, how deep was the water he was in? I guess well find out more, but it looks as if he didn't know how to swim or something else was wrong. *** Edited 7/5/2006 4:35:36 PM UTC by P18***

That's too bad. I hate hearing about stuff like this.

Why are people idiots and take down "No Swimming" signs when they are put there for a reason?
*** Edited 7/5/2006 4:51:23 PM UTC by coasterlover325***

Seems to me that mentioning the other deaths is completely irrelevent. I guess they had to pad the story somehow.

If I remember correctly, LC also had a problem for a while with similar problems.

As for Playland, this park remains in business in spite of real estate prices in the area for one reason. Westchester County owns it, meaning that as long as the park itself produces adequate revenue, it will remain around rather than being torn down for condos, etc. This is in contrast to Palasades Park which was torn down even while it was still popular.

How difficult is it to put a "No Swimming" sign that cannot be taken down? Geesh.

Drop a damn boulder next to the water and paint your message.

In the parks defense, I must ask how difficult is it to see that no one else is swimming in the lake.

I don't think a rule against swimming here would have saved the man. Was there something inherently unsafe about the water that would have caused him to go into distress?

I can understand the park implementing the rule in order to keep swimmers and paddleboats apart, but I have a hard time thinking the rule was in place because swimming was unsafe...unless of course it was because there were no lifeguards.

Hmmm...sounds like I answered my own question. Duh.

Don't swim alone folks. Even strong swimmers get cramps or run into trouble.

A little known fact is that a lot of lakes at amusement parks have "hot" wires running in or around them.

There was an AWFUL TRAGEDY at PKI years ago when three deaths occurred in one day at the park. A drunken woman fell to her death from FLIGHT COMMANDER while, concomitantly, at the other end of the park, a guy wandered into the lake near the Brew House and got electrocuted. His buddy, not realizing what had happened, went in after him, and they both perished.

I think that is probably the darkest day in PKI's history.

BJW

Distress could also mean something like he stepped off a shallow ledge into deeper water and panicked.

I watched the video off to the side of the page. The edge of the lake is strewn with boulders and doesn't exactly look inviting to waders. So why the guy went into the water at all is beyond me.

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coasterlover325 said:

Why are people idiots and take down "No Swimming" signs when they are put there for a reason?

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Probably for the same reason that they feel compelled to swim in waters that are obviously not meant for swimming.