What was supposed to be a fun-filled family weekend celebrating Cinco de Mayo turned into a scene of chaos and destruction in a matter of minutes.
As the WOWT News video shows above, 11-year-old Elizabeth Gilreath boarded the “spinning” carnival ride moments before sliding off her seat.
Soon enough, her curly red hair got tangled up in the ride itself.
Image Credit: Screenshot/WOWT News
The girl’s hair, which her moms says she “loved,” started twisting more and more — that’s when Elizabeth’s friend, Aushanay Allen, began screaming:
“There’s nothing we could do and so I stood up and I was like yelling, I was like, ‘Stop the ride! Stop the freaking ride!’”
An onlooker, who happened to be a mom herself, noticed what was happening and thankfully responded like any mom would.
Jolene Cisneros says she had to stop the ride with her hands, when she saw Elizabeth lying in her own blood:
“I was like, you’re going to be okay and she’s just like, where’s my pretty hair? I didn’t know [if[ it was my child, I just knew there’s a child and she needed help.”
Cisneros prayed that Elizabeth, affectionally known as “LuLu,” wouldn’t die right before her eyes, hoping she’d make it through the horrific accident.
According to KETV News, bystanders used clothes to stop the bleeding before she was rushed to a nearby hospital. Lulu’s father, Timothy Gilreath, was seemingly in shock when he arrived at the hospital:
“I drove here to find out my daughter’s scalp had been totally removed.”
Gilreath says the entire incident lasted between 5 and 10 minutes, adding that his daughter was “tortured.”
The girl’s mother, Virginia Cooksey, told reporters in a news conference that she’s trying to hide her tears from Lulu in an effort to “remain strong” for traumatized 11-year-old:
“I can’t let my daughter see it. I have to stay strong. Surgical doctors played a big role and they saved my daughter’s life and I cannot thank them enough.”
KMTV News reports the festival coordinator, Marcos Mora, says that despite what happened Sunday afternoon, other rides at the festival are “safe”:
“One of the first things of course is safety. They actually cannot operate until they are inspected to our knowledge, that’s what’s supposed to happen, and that’s what’s been done.”
But countless parents say they’re leery of carnival rides like the Kings Crown ride that forever changed Elizabeth Gilreath’s life.
Cooksey tells Good Morning America she “wouldn’t recommend” any parent put their child on a carnival ride, after the incident left her daughter in such critical condition.
Cooksey says that Lulu loves to “learn” and hopes to be a senator when she grows up.
The post Girl Screamed for Workers to Stop Carnival Ride, But Ten Minutes Later, It Was Too Late appeared first on Independent Journal Review.
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