A Hunker woman, who says she was injured in February on the Giant Slide in Mammoth Park, claims in a lawsuit filed this week that the 100-foot amusement ride is unsafe.
Ashley M. Coonelly says that she traveled down the slide at a high rate of speed and was unable to slow down before she violently hit the ground at the end of her ride.
The lawsuit is the eighth filed over alleged safety issues related to the Giant Slide since it was installed in 2020 at the Mt. Pleasant Township park. The other seven cases remain pending and each raises similar allegations in which riders claim they were injured.
Westmoreland County Public Works Director Greg McCloskey said the slide remains open and confirmed there have been no changes to safety protocols.
According to Coonelly’s 11-count lawsuit filed against the county and the companies that manufactured, designed and installed the slide, she claims she suffered a compression fracture of her vertebra, bruises and conditions, nervousness, emotional tension, anxiety and depression.
The court filing claims the county was negligent by allowing the public to use unsafe playground equipment and that it failed to take adequate steps while designing, planning and installing the slide to ensure adequate safety measures.
“The … metal racing slides lacked a proper and adequate deceleration zone, side rails, netting, guide rails, barriers, landing area material, warning/signage regarding proper use and other protective safety equipment,” the lawsuit states.
County officials on Friday declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Coonelly’s lawyer, Richard Talarico, who is representing clients in the other seven lawsuits, did not respond to a request for comment.
Commissioners ordered the slide closed in August 2020, a month after it was opened following a yearslong, $1.1 million park renovation that included replacing an older version of the slide. The county in 2018 demolished the 45-year-old, 96-foot straight slide at the park to make way for the new complex, which includes side-by-side 100-foot metal racing slides that curve several times.
Responding to safety concerns of the new slide, the county spent about $30,000 to install a rubberized surface, new cargo netting for climbing, handrails leading to the top of the slide and barriers that separate the equipment from nearby rocks.
Security cameras were installed along with revised warnings and a video with instructions of how to safely ride the slide. State inspectors deemed the slide to be safe, McCloskey said.
Meanwhile, county officials said that despite the continuing legal actions, there are no current plans to close the complex.
“I don’t know that the facts warrant that,” said Commissioner Ted Kopas.
Commissioner Doug Chew declined to comment and Commissioner Sean Kertes did not respond to a request for comment.
