Two 13-year-olds allegedly caused a county fair swing ride to veer out of control Saturday after deliberately interfering with the attraction, injuring three other riders, authorities said.
Witness video reportedly showed the teens holding onto each other as they rode the swings at the Columbia County Fall Fair in Grovetown, Georgia. Their actions caused the ride to become unstable, local station WRDW reported.
Disturbing footage obtained by the station captures the moment the chain swings slam into one another as frightened riders cry out.
Kristen Murphy, whose children were riding when the incident occurred, recorded the chaos before racing to help get her teens off the attraction.
“This ride has to stop,” Murphy recalled thinking as the situation escalated. “My kids are on it. Something’s happening. I need to get to them.”
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Murphy said her husband ran to the control panel to shut down the ride, while other parents helped bring the machinery to a stop.
“Once we did get it stopped and I was able to get to my kids, that’s when we noticed that there were some pretty severe injuries,” she said.
Authorities said a woman was taken by ambulance to a hospital after her swing collided with another. Two children were also treated for minor injuries.
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office said the teens had been warned not to hold onto each other before the crash occurred.
Local authorities charged both teens and released them into their parents’ custody, police said. The specific charges were not immediately clear.
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