No investigation after ride breaks down at carnival

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LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. – WINK News is learning more about a malfunction that caused a carnival ride to stop working with riders suspended in mid-air.

Only WINK News was at the Lehigh Acres Spring Festival on Saturday night during the rescues.

We’ve learned the ride had problems a number of times that night, and the same company that owns the rides has been cited and fined for past issues.

“I was upside down and they were sideways,” said Autumn Spainhower. She and her family are just three of the guests who got stuck on the ‘Power Surge’ Saturday night.

“I was nervous,” says Spainhower. “I didn’t know what was going to happen.”

Spainhower says just minutes after she was stuck upside down, the ride malfunctioned at least two more times.

“We weren’t off the ride literally five minutes, maybe three to five minutes, and it was running again.”

The Lehigh Acres Fire Department says they had to rescue eight people on Saturday night.

The Florida Department of Agriculture says a pump did not have enough pressure to allow the ride to run properly. Florida law requires every ride to be inspected before an event opens.

The state says it will not conduct an investigation because no one was transported to the hospital, and the ride wasn’t down for more than four hours.

WINK News did some digging into the company that operates the ride called Modern Midways. In 2013 a ride called the ‘Ring of Fire’ had a structural failure at the Lehigh Spring Festival.

According to the Department of Agriculture, the company had to pay a $1,500 fine.

Last year, a young girl experienced an electrical shock on the merry-go-round.

Modern Midways packed the ride up after the Spring Festival closed on Saturday. Organizers tell WINK News they’re unsure if they’ll hire them for next year’s carnival.

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