The Kansas crackdown caught up to this international traveler who returned to the States and a hot mess amid the legal ramifications of the Caleb Schwab decapitation. Checkit:
Verruckt designer in federal custody on murder charges
DALLAS, Tex. -- U.S. Marshals have arrested John Schooley, the designer of the Verruckt water slide at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kansas. Schooley was taken into custody as he returned to the United States on a flight from China. He arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Monday evening.
Did they build this without permits or did I miss the headline that the government workers that approved them had been arrested too?
ReplyDeleteLearn to read the article before commenting.
DeleteOkay 6:39. I've reread the article and I'm still missing the part where the planners who signed off on the design and the inspectors who approved the construction of the ride are being included in the assignment of criminal liability. Perhaps those arrests come tomorrow?
DeleteSo if a person dies in a car wreck do they arrest the person who designed the car for murder?
ReplyDeleteWhen that 14 year old girl died at Worlds of Fun was anyone charged with murder over that?
There was no murder.
ReplyDeleteThe real outrage will come when juries find these men not guilty because they are not guilty of murder.
oh look, it's one of their lawyers at 8:24! Clocking in six minutes early. I guess that gets billed as overtime??
ReplyDeleteOr perhaps Winter Prosapio--in training to replace Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Unless she checks the bank balance for Schlitterbahn, and realizes Jeffy Henry has blown through all the money and therefore she will never receive her anticipated retirement pension--and so she does the right thing and turns whistleblower for AG Derek Schmidt.
She knows everything.
I am glad and frankly surprised that Schooley returned to the US. Good job by our US Marshalls.
Thursday at 2 Jeff Henry appears in court in Kansas.
Oh look, It's Tracy still suffering from that traumatic brain injury. Take what she say's with a grain of salt, she admits that she has an impaired ability to function.
ReplyDeleteAlright, enough of these gestapo bullschit tactics. How the fvck is a professional designer arrested like some common criminal. If there is a case for design negligence, and you have facts of this, you get a grand jury to issue a bench warrant and the designer will come in and talk to you. You file with their insurance company and you go about destroying them. If, as I suspect from all the reading when this initially happened, that the raft had been improperly loaded, i.e. outside of the design specifications; this designer has done nothing wrong. He should sue the eff out of any available gov agency that participated in this arrest, those that aren't untouchable anyway. Tracy, you're part of the problem here, heads will roll in due time, but these aren't effing drug dealers, they are professional designers, owners, managers THAT DON"T GO ON THE F"ING RUN. You deal with them in a civilized manner that is the foundation of a functioning society. Design negligence, if present, is a civil matter, NOT criminal. The Owner may be implicated, and may be charged, but as of right now, he should be free to go about his business until it's his time in front of a judge.
ReplyDeleteHere's what its akin to (Tracy I call you out on this as your writing is the most vicious I've read that isn't anonymous): I'm driving my car, reading the jocopost on my phone, get in a wreck and die. My family should be able to have Tracy Thomas arrested because she was the creator of the blog, a designer if you will. Snatched by jumped up swat guys in broad daylight, full production, as you're checking out a your local market. In front of your friends and neighbors.
I spent over 10 years as a prosecuting attorney's investigator but it was on the Missouri side. I can only presume the Kansas murder charges must be in regard to a death caused by reckless endangerment.
ReplyDeleteI presume the state of Kansas issues inspections and permits for amusement parks and they cannot do business until those processes AR complete.
I also presume the state of Kansas conducts regular inspections of these rides, to ensure that they are safe for the public; and that those inspectors have the authority to close any ride that doesn't pass inspection.
It's almost certain the ride that caused the death was inspected by those authorities and unless it was red tagged and ordered closed--and Schlitterbahn operated it anyway--you barely have a wrongful death much less a homicide.
I'm willing to bet the elements of second-degree murder in Kansas require that specific Acts were committed, by specific people, that resulted in the felonious death of another. It'll certainly be interesting to see how the district attorney attempts to prove those elements.
Were the designers of the Hyatt Skywalk charged with murder?
ReplyDeleteGood points, Gus.
ReplyDeleteHowever Ks. law is/was extremely lax. There were NO inspections by the state.
I do think reckless endangerment has a chance to be proven, as part of the Murder 2 charge.
We shall see. The Schlitterbahn attorneys are total deny-ers. Reminds one of what Trump told Billy Bush. Just tell anyone and everyone, over and over, what you want the public to believe. Stick to your story. Never back down. If they hit you, hit them back twice as hard.
Kraske did an excellent and comprehensive interview on kcur.org this week, with STAR reporter Steve Vockrodt and a law professor from Tulane. On the legal aspects. Check that out. They raise the likelihood that a jury may find the men guilty, but of a lesser charge.
The AG, Derek Schmidt, has, to anyone's knowledge, (since his office refuses to answer the question,) never prosecuted a murder case. Or many cases for that matter. But the legal burden of investigation and prosecution has fallen to him, since the DA in Wyandotte County booted the case to his office.
The Tulane professor predicts this case will be widely followed nationally, since it is one of the few cases regarding the design and manufacture of a structure has led to a Murder 2 charge.
2:30, no the designers of the Hyatt were not charged with murder. It wasn't all their fault--unlicensed contractors made a change, from the original plans of the architects, on site, to save time and money. Instead of one long rod, they up and decided to use TWO shorter rods, a few inches apart. It takes physics and a structural engineering degree to understand how that transferred the load--to some pissant washers and bolts. Those failed.
ReplyDeleteNobody was charged, but should have been, in the opinion of many. The City, under Mayor Dick Berkley, protected people. Then, just like the Caleb Schwab aftermath, the story was buried for many months, with the tired old, "People have suffered enough."
Ultimately, the STAR won a Pulitzer. Including Wayne Lischke, the structural engineer they hired as a special consultant. He man-splained it to the world, and good for him. (The STAR has no budget for lawyers or consultants any more. I doubt they win a Pulitzer this time.) And going foward, the licensing for architects was changed to require courses in structural engineering.
10:04. Tsk, tsk.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, it wasn't ME who denied bail to manic Jeff Henry. It was a Texas judge who believes him to be a flight risk. And it wasn't me who described Henry being arrested "very close to the Mexican border". It was the New York Times.
Now granted, Henry owns a home on Padre Island. I think that's where the US Marshalls found him.
That Texas judge also knows how narcissistic Jeff Henry is, with delusions of grandeur and greatness. And that the family is rich. (Or was.) And that they are in a bankruptcy case right now in Texas, over $30 million in debt. So don't blame me. I'm just reporting and commenting on fairly obvious situations.
And second, you write like an attorney (perhaps on retainer for one of the Schlitterbahn Three??)--but jeezo peezo, your analogies are pathetic. And inaccurate. You're not gonna get your guys off with equating a reckless driver reading one of my two blogs with causing an accident while driving--and the publisher being charged with murder!
Where did you go to school? Arkansas? Married to your cousin, are ya? Got teeth?!!
To be honest, my blogs are not that compelling. To date, no commuting readers have careened off Ward Parkway into oncoming traffic. I am a Doubleday author, but I'm no John Grisham. Oh yeah, have you heard?? Breaking news: distracted driving is illegal. Based on your metaphor, the cops could sue the Google keyboard, driving while texting.
Get some rest, legal eagles and Schlitterbahn season pass holder suckers. You're gonna need to sharpen your wits.
Jeffy is in court here on Thursday. I nominate Nick Nolte to play him in the movie. Their arraignment photos in orange looked identical. Of course, I've asked Meryl Streep to play me. Sandy Bullock is back-up. Tony is angling to cast Antonio Banderas. With the Dos Equis guy as stand-in. Drive careful, my friend.
I hate to say it, but Jocopost for the win...
ReplyDelete@3:27 try to stay on point, personal attacks add nothing.
ReplyDeleteDespite your response, you provide no commentary regarding the guy about which the story was written. Why was a design professional (though previously reported by media as an Engineer, is not) who returned from his vacation voluntarily when informed of the warrant, arrested like a drug smuggler in the airport? HE RETURNED TO TURN HIMSELF IN! That is not the behavior of an errant deviant who will run rather than "face the music." That is the behavior of a responsible citizen and he should have been treated as such.
My analogy over the top? Sure, illustrating absurdity by being absurd. The arrest of the designer by gestapo federales upon return to the US is absurd, and hopefully found to have some measure of illegality.
Thanks for the compliment, not a lawyer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn.