Bentonville (KFSM)-- According to Benton County Fire Officials, a family was injured on a ride at the Benton County Fair Saturday (Aug. 10) night.
"We are aware of an incident with a carnival ride at our fair Saturday evening at approximately 8:00 pm. We don’t have additional information to comment other than to share the ride involved was shut down, and the state will conduct a thorough investigation," said an official associated with the fair.
Fire crews, along with an ambulance, showed up to the scene. Both a mother and child were taken to the hospital. The father refused to be transported by EMS so he could tend to his family.
The mother and child sustained non-life threatening injuries.
Fair officials believe the ride called Jungle Twist malfunctioned. Those who attended the fair say the ride is a kiddie roller coaster and flew off of the tracks.
The Arkansas Department of Labor has also opened an investigation into the incident. A spokeswoman said the department has the authority to levy fines of up to $10,000 per violation against offenders.
The family involved in the crash told 5NEWS what happened leading up to the accident. They have requested to remain anonymous.
"We started on the ride in the front car. We made two successful laps, gaining speed with each time, the car spinning on the turns. On the third lap as we rounded the turn to the left the car spun as it’s designed to do, but the force seemed greater and the car disengaged from the others and flew off the track. It felt as though we flipped once or twice mid-air and landed on the back right side of the car. At that time, people rushed the scene and removed the car from on top of us."
The videos below were taken by Felicia Allen while she was at the fair with her family.
"We had actually just got off that ride. We were standing in line for the ride next to it when we heard the sounds and turned around to see the ride flying towards us," Allen said. "The mom and daughter were inside. It flipped a couple of times and landed almost upside down with them inside. They pulled the ride off of them, and they were just laying there, not moving. The police quickly arrived and helped as much as possible. It all happened very fast."
"We were probably three feet away from where it landed, and if it would have been going any faster it probably would have hit everybody in line for the next ride," Allen told 5NEWS.
The Benton County Fair wrapped up Sunday (Aug. 11).
