6-Year-Old Injured in Tennessee Ferris Wheel Accident Released From Hospital

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Image Source/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) —  The youngest of the three girls injured in a Ferris wheel accident in Tennessee has been released from the hospital after suffering traumatic brain injury from the 35- to 45-foot fall, according to her family and the children’s hospital that treated her.

Briley Reynolds, 6, had been hospitalized since the fall on Aug. 8 at the Greene County Fair. Her 10-year-old sister, Kayla, and a 16-year-old, were treated and released from the hospital last week.

All three fell to the ground after the Ferris wheel malfunctioned.

“Me and my sister were crying. We were just, like, trying to hold on to stuff and didn’t know what to do,” Kayla told ABC News Tuesday. “We were probably sitting there with it tilted for maybe not even a minute … hoping it would turn back, and then we just started falling.”

Briley and Kayla’s parents, Kimmee Reynolds and Jason Reynolds, said they noticed that the basket the girls were riding in was tilting and ran toward the Ferris wheel operator yelling, “Stop, stop, stop now.”

 Kayla suffered a broken arm and other minor injuries, while Briley suffered from a traumatic brain injury.

Safety inspectors are blaming mechanical failure for the incident, which authorities have called an accident. The ride lacked seat belts and lap restraints, but they are not required by law.

The fair said it has parted ways with the operators of the rides and neither will receive compensation for 2016 and 2017.

In its first statement addressing the incident, Family Attractions Amusement, which provided rides for the fair, told ABC News, “By no means do we take this lightly, as our main concern is the safety of the families who visit our midway each week. We wish the children health and a speedy recovery as we continue to keep them in our prayers.”

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