2 Guys Get Banned from BGE for Posting Griffon Malfunction

[Ccron10]

The posting of video shot by a cell phone has irked Busch Garden Officials.

 

The grainy video shows Matthew Sassone, an ODU student, stuck on the new Griffon roller coaster ride unable to get out of the seat because the safety harness wouldn't release.

 

Sassone told Wavy.Com, "I started panicking. My legs were shaking, and it was so tight it cut my circulation turning my legs purple."

 

The video was shot by Sassone's friend Clayton Mercurio of Virginia Beach and posted on YouTube's Website.

 

Cindy Sarko Director of Communications for Busch Gardens Europe responds, "We also believe they were trying to get their 5 minutes of fame because they found it necessary to video tape our trying to get Matthew out of the seat."

 

But Sarko goes further blaming Sassone for tampering with the ride, "He poked some kind of a metal object whether it be a screwdriver or something to bend the harness to allow that harness to open properly as it should have done."

 

Untrue says Sassone, "I was sitting in the seat when it happened. I did not damage the ride. I did not."

 

Sarko claims that out of the 1.5 million Griffon riders since May, only twice has the harness refused to lift at rides end and both times on two different days involved Matthew Sassone.

 

Sarko says, "Our experts have concluded: Operations, maintenance engineers and safety experts with more than 30 years of experience in this business have concluded, there was a deliberate act done by these two gentlemen."

 

Clayton Mercurio, offended by Sarko's accusation responds, "the fact it happened twice shows there's a problem with the ride. The fact it happened twice shows that they need to look into why Matthew got stuck on it two times in the same seat in the same row."

 

Busch Gardens slapped both men with No Trespassing orders, took away their season passes with no refund ordering Mercurio to stay away for a year, and Sassone for two years.

 

http://www.wavy.com/global/story.asp?s=7043397

The guy must've did this before and they disurve the punishment.

[lil jimmy norton]

It does seem a little odd that it happened twice to the same person. Sounds like a couple of guys just trying to cause a little ruckus. Though it's possible that he did not tamper with the restraint.

[Homer]

Wow, Busch has been uptight lately with loose articles, even IN the station! I don't know why Busch is so uppity about a video on YouTube which was nothing more but "Ha, he's stuck!" and the ops messing around. Sure, theres the negative stigmata, but I doubt a silly YouTube video taken with a cellphone would do that much damage to Busch's reputation.

 

I don't see how the restraint was tampered with unless it was by the mechanic.

 

Then, on to the punishment, a bit harsh if you asked me. Sure, they should have been booted, but not banned for one or more years. That's just crazy.

[youthink?]

Haha I saw that video a while ago They shouldn't ban them from the park! Who knows, they might not have done something to the restraints!

[browntggrr]

If this guy had an issue with a particular seat previously, why would he choose to sit in the same one again? And after he had the first incident, did he notify an operator?

 

And he is the only one to ever have an issue, on two different occaisions?

 

Sounds rather fishy.

[natatomic]

Sure, it IS possible that this guy just has bad coaster-restraint karma, but the odds of the ONLY two instances of this particular malfunction happening to the same guy on the same ride in the same seat must be astronomical.

 

Then, on to the punishment, a bit harsh if you asked me. Sure, they should have been booted, but not banned for one or more years. That's just crazy.

 

So long as they have proven that he did indeed tamper with the restraints (and the article claimed that they had the ride inspected by the experts who confirmed that theory), then I don't think the punishment was too harsh. It's called Destruction of Property, and last time I checked, that was a no-no according to our legal system.

[Top Thrill Dragster]

If they did tamper with the restraint, I think they should go to jail and be banned for life from all the Anheuser parks. What happens if the restraint opened on the ride and some one got hurt or killed.

[coasterdude5]

I don't know, I see where BGE is coming from, but I don't think there's alot of evidence given, but if they had done it before, then they got what they deserve.

[Coaster Sim. Fan]

If they really did it I completly agree some one could of seriously gotten hurt.

 

If it's just the case that they filmed it I think that is completely unfair. We live in a society were things are being put on film more and more. Chances are there are slot of people put there that would of also have filmed there friend stuck on a ride. (I probably would of)

 

The other thing that comes to mind to me is Bush trying to hide something. Are they so scared there image might get damaged instead of letting it go they have to say the people tampered with the ride and make it get in the news so if people see it they wont look at the park so bad? It just makes me wonder.

[browntggrr]

^ Or Busch could be not necessarily hiding anything, but if they gave out specific information, it could encourage other idiots to try the same thing.

 

Kind of like when media sources gave out rather specific details of Timothy McVeigh's bomb from the Oklahoma City tragedy.

[Alpenguy]

As a ride op I've come across various guests (often former ops themselves, or the rare asshat passholder who read about a "trick" on some forum) who find it a fun game to mess with rides and claim ignorance.

 

If the report is even remotely accurate I have no doubt this guy is one of those people.

 

The most common one I've dealt with involves people purposefully getting stuck in airgates to see that yes, it does make an alarm noise (with an easy reset and solution, though it was an e-stop on a ride I used to work, at a park that didn't teach of allow ride ops to reset things). It's very common to catch loonies waiting in line for a certain flat ride that involves a boarding ticket of sorts, then just running out the exit with the ticket to put on their mantle at home or sell for $2 on eBay. If caught, it's a plea of ignorance of course.

 

The 3 morons I've caught jumping out of dark ride vehicles to steal props all claimed they had no idea why the ride stopped or what could be going on until they had some time to sit with park security.

 

Considering the great design of B&M restraints, plus their very open mechanisms, there's no way that coincidence could be the case for this guy. The claim of ignorance and exaggeration (OMG MY LEGS WERE PURPLE!!!!1) on the part of this Sassone goofball just cement the deal. No way.

[bovinejumpsuit]

Sure, theres the negative stigmata,

Is there ever positive stigmata?

[Tmcdllr]

If the restraints are that easy to tamper with then there is a flaw in the design that allows morons like them to do stuff like that that really needs to be looked at.

[timetrial3141592]

I assume that if you ask very nicely, a park might let you have a bit of scrap coaster (i.e. a coaster being torn down for scrap... one car doesn't bring in as much revenue as you'd think.) Sorry, that was a bit weird. Anyway, my point is... ASK before pulling stuff like this.

[browntggrr]

Anyway, my point is... ASK before pulling stuff like this.

 

Not to be an ass, but, do you actually expect the park to say: "go ahead and take our scrap?"

[timetrial3141592]

Depends. I'm sure I could have gotten a bit of Ultratwister if I tried...

[Carnage]

If the restraints are that easy to tamper with then there is a flaw in the design that allows morons like them to do stuff like that that really needs to be looked at.

 

Maybe not a flaw, but a safety feature. Sounds like it did what it needed to do. Someone tampers with it, and the restraint locks. If sticking a screw driver in some hole causes the restraint to open, then THAT would be a flaw.

 

It seemed like they knew what they were doing. They seemed to have that fake "I'm pretending to look innocent" looks to them. Like they were grandstanding.

 

And I don't buy the "my legs were going numb I was so nervous" crap. He's sitting in the station, with a locked restraint, what is there to be nervous of? And he's small, so there is no way that a B&M restraint can tighten to the point of making it painful for him.

[carolinacaniac]

Seems fishy to me that it was really just dumb luck on his part. Especially since the park said that the two times it has happend so far it was the same guy. Another thing is that like Carnage was saying, he didn't seem to be all THAT worried about it, and his legs looked fine to me.

[Johnny Upsidedown]

It looks like he did it. There are places on the back of the restraint and behind the seat that can be reached. You can mess with the mechanism, but what happen is the restraint only locks inplace. I am betting there was a third person involved in the seat behind his and the is the one that tamperd with the seat. Its a perfect distraction, people unloading from seats wouldnt notice a guy stick a screw driver in and walk away.

 

This was done in August so that is about the time all the locker natzie stuff started at the park so that makes sense .

 

Plus isnt it convient that the person that filmed it was in the station waiting in line and not with his buddy on the ride or in the exit lane.

[carolinacaniac]

Plus isnt it convient that the person that filmed it was in the station waiting in line and not with his buddy on the ride or in the exit lane.

 

I don't think he was waiting in line. It looked like he took shots from infront of him or just to the side, but I could be wrong.

 

Still a really stupid thing to do though.

[TheRapidsNerd]

What these two charactors don't realize is, that while they got their brief time in the spotlight, they also outed themselves as potential problems...all over the internet. They also don't realize you do have to be careful what you post online as well as HOW you post it. It's more than just "ha ha". It can translate into lost revenue, and hurting a park's reputation. Not a good idea if you ever want to go back to that park. Lotsa ride ops and park admins take note of youtube and myspace postings like this.

 

Simply put, when you're a guest in someone's house, it's wise to respect their rules, especially if you want to return.

[Ccron10]

These guys didn't just ruin it for themselves, but depending on how many trains were running and how many guests were on the ride and waiting in line, they ruined it for everyone.

 

Here's something new, apperantly the guy is a member over at another coaster site!

 

Shouldn't have security caught the screwdriver if the guy was taking it into the park?

[allisonLOVEsTPR]

This park needs to lighten up. They are lucky that these 2 guys weren't pissed or wanted there money back or took legal action against them. Lets be honest if the video on you tube wasn't on you tube, the incident still would have happened? so what is the big deal? lots of ride malfunctions are online for the world to see. if you think that a video of restraints being stuck on line will cause loss in revenue. try guests thinking there going to get kicked out of the park for getting stuck on a ride? it seems the park management is trying to make an example of these 2 guys because the whole banned for a year thing is really harsh.IF these 2 guys did in fact damage the ride then I would understand but if it happened twice it dosent seem to be that serious.

 

bottom line Matthew Sassone and Clayton Mercurio come to Disney parks next time . were you wont be able to get a metal object through the gates and all you dreams will come true haha

[ghost007jas]

^ Eh? These guys obviously tampered with the ride. I mean come on, happening only twice and it just happens to be the same guy both times?

 

And whats this about not getting a metal object into a Disney park? I bring in metallic objects all the time. I don't believe they have metal detectors, do they?

[TheRapidsNerd]

This park needs to lighten up. They are lucky that these 2 guys weren't pissed or wanted there money back or took legal action against them. Lets be honest if the video on you tube wasn't on you tube, the incident still would have happened? so what is the big deal? lots of ride malfunctions are online for the world to see. if you think that a video of restraints being stuck on line will cause loss in revenue. try guests thinking there going to get kicked out of the park for getting stuck on a ride? it seems the park management is trying to make an example of these 2 guys because the whole banned for a year thing is really harsh.IF these 2 guys did in fact damage the ride then I would understand but if it happened twice it dosent seem to be that serious.

 

Ok, say you just spent a ton of cash customizing a really sweet car and you have a great rep for custom work. Now, you let the 2 guys take a spin in it on 2 different occasions, and both times it comes back from these guys with seat-belt problems. Nobody else who's driven the car has had problems, and you know you've installed the belts right and maintained them well. Then, on top of this, those 2 guys film the problem and say you do crappy unsafe work and the car sucks, niether of which is true. Wouldn't you be upset and ban them from driving the car after all the time, money, and work you put into it?