One of the three riders who fell about 15 feet from a carnival ride May 18 during the Rhododendron Festival told police that the Phoenix wheel gondola she was riding in got caught on a bolt and tipped them out.

Witnesses to the incident say that the riders may have been standing up in the ride, which is not allowed.

Port Townsend Police Department (PTPD) reports, released May 24 and May 26, offer conflicting information.

Three riders were taking a cell phone selfie just before they got tipped out and landed on the ride’s metal platform May 18 at Memorial Athletic Field, according to the reports. One person was seriously injured in the accident; that victim was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

The cause of the accident remains under investigation by the U.S. Products and Consumer Safety Commission. The police reports are part of that investigation.

The riders are working with attorney Ashton Dennis, who said Tuesday that his clients were now focused on rehabilitation and weren’t yet thinking about possible legal action.

“She’s not even walking or moving around yet,” Dennis said of rider Susan “Shawn” Swartwood, 60, who sustained the most serious of the injuries.

GONDOLA DOORS DAMAGED

Each gondola has a set of swinging doors on either side, which, according to Funtastic manager Keith Ellefson, are designed to only open inwardly. Funtastic is the company that has been operating the rides at the Rhody Fest for more than 30 years.

Ride victim Crystal Groth told the PTPD that when she first boarded the gondola through its south doors that she “noticed that the [north] door was open a little bit,” according to the police interview.

“Groth stated that she observed the partially opened door (on the north side of their cart) get stuck on part of the ride as they were coming down.”

The occupants fell from the gondola as it came down. Dispatchers received a 911 call about the accident at 5:34 p.m., and officers were on the scene by 5:38.

According to the report, PTPD officer Nathan Holmes, Dr. Shannan Kirchner and East Jefferson Fire Rescue paramedic Sam Neville happened to be having dinner near Memorial Field at the time of the accident and ran to the scene to provide aid.

When Sgt. Troy Surber of the PTPD arrived at the scene, he saw Susan “Shawn” Swartwood, 60, of Chimacum, face down on the platform. She was the most seriously injured of the accident victims. Mikhail Groth-Swartwood, 7, did not appear to be seriously injured, and the third occupant, Groth, had an abrasion on her arm. Swartwood was treated for fractures and a head injury at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. She left Harborview May 25 and is currently recuperating in the Port Townsend area.

People at the scene had to hold one of the gondolas up and out of the way to allow access to Swartwood.

Photos taken at the scene show the north side door of the No. 2 gondola caught on a bolt on the ride’s superstructure.

The south door was severely damaged and bent toward the inside of the gondola, according to the report and evidence photos taken at the scene.

“Several of the rivets had been pulled from the door frame as the door was damaged,” Surber wrote of the south door in his report.

“The bottom of the door was bent inward indicating it had been in contact with an unknown item outside of the gondola with enough force causing the aluminum door to bend and causing the rivets to be pull[ed] from the side of the door frame.”

The gondolas do not have seat belts, but Surber said that the gondolas have a large yellow sticker on both sides of the center pole warning passengers to remain seated. But the No. 2 gondola had the warning only on the east side of the pole with no sticker on the west side.

The gondola the victims were riding in was missing one of two safety stickers that warned riders to remain seated, officials said.

OUT OF SERVICE

Ellefson said some of the gondolas were out of service. Surber wrote that state ride inspector Richard Spromberg found unattached doors, bolts and cotter pins on seats in the gondolas that were out of service.

Surber spoke with the primary operator of the ride through a translator, as the operator did not speak English well, the police report said.

According to Surber’s report, the operator had “told the family in gondola No. 2 to sit down at least one time.”

Police administered breath tests to Ellefson and the primary and secondary ride operators and the results were .000, indicating none of them had consumed alcohol.

The ride is being inspected to try to learn more about what may have caused the accident.

WITNESS ACCOUNTS

Port Townsend police officers responded to the accident, interviewed several witnesses and took 345 photographs.

Brandi Hamon of Port Townsend wrote in a police statement, “I witnessed a person leaning out of one of the buckets on the ride which then appeared to cause the bucket to lean and flip causing the occupants to fall approx[imately] 20 feet.

“When the bucket was leaning, the woman … was holding on to the rail and continued to lean outwards as the bucket tipped. I feel that they were intentionally leaning out waving at friends,” Hamon wrote. Hamon is vice president of the Rhododendron Festival Association.

Another witness, Dusty Call of Port Townsend, was sitting in the No. 3 gondola next to the purple No. 2 gondola that flipped over. She was with Nicholas Pollgreen and their daughter when the accident happened, the report said.

“Just after we started coming down from the very top the cart next to us started shaking,” Call wrote.

“I said ‘What’s going on?’ as the woman lost a drink or phone or something then within seconds their cart completely flipped over.”

Pollgreen said when the gondola flipped, it grazed his head. He declined medical attention.

“The cart behind made grinding sounds and something fell out and I heard it hit the floor,” Pollgreen wrote in his statement.

“The cart then slowly tipped over and dumped the passengers behind us out of their cart. They tried to hold on but fell violently with a small child as well.”

Pollgreen said operators did not stop the ride fast enough, but Ellefson said the ride must be slowed gradually to prevent the gondolas from swinging excessively.

Another witness was Laura Lewis of Nordland, who was also on the ride at the time of the accident.

“All of a sudden one of the magenta buckets flipped all the way upside down and dumped out all of the occupants,” Lewis wrote. “I did not see any awkward movements in the bucket prior to it going upside down.”

Noalin Montoya of Port Townsend wrote that he saw “both adults trying to get up and rotate on one side, or at least switch sides, and there was so much weight on one side and it had flipped and all 3 people were launched out of the purple seat.”

Officer Ashley Moore spoke with witness Jada Trafton, who stated that it appeared that someone stood up. However, she did not see why the gondola flipped.

PTPD officer Mark Dumond happened to be at the carnival at the time of the accident. He was off duty, but saw another officer running by and began assisting.

“I could see a purple gondola on the west side of the ride in an inverted position, which appeared to be held in place by the framework of the ride.”

Rhododendron Festival Queen Lauren Montgomery and Princess Taylor Tracer were also on the ride when the accident happened.

“All of a sudden heard loud screams felt [the] ride shake,” Montgomery wrote.

The distance the occupants are thought to have fallen ranged from 8 feet to 30 feet, according to the police report.

ATTORNEY: WEREN’T STANDING

“Our recommendation would be let’s not victim blame here, let’s not blame the people that are learning to walk again,” Dennis told KING-TV.

He said his clients were not standing up until the gondola began to tip. The three tried to grab on to the gondola’s main center pole to brace themselves, he said.

Dennis said Swartwood’s injuries included a dislocated shoulder and bones shattered in both legs.

“Funtastic has outright said it’s our client’s fault and they’re not at fault,” Dennis said.

“Shawn and Crystal are overwhelmed with the support that the community has given them,” he said, which has included helping them with mowing the lawn.

Dennis said his clients were of “limited means,” and that Kitsap Credit Union had an account set up in their names for anyone wishing to help.