Man injured by ejection seat ride in May 2014 sues owner

A man injured during the malfunction of a slingshot-style amusement park ride nearly two years ago has sued the ride's operator for pain and suffering, medical expenses and punitive damages, according to a civil complaint filed in Anchorage Superior Court.

David Cartier alleges the inadequate operation and maintenance of the Ejection Seat Ride, owned and operated by Robert "Rob" J. Thompson Jr., led to the accident that injured his head, neck, chest, arm and leg, according to the complaint.

The ride was a prominent sight in the years before the May 23, 2014, accident in the parking lot of the Crazy Horse Saloon, an Anchorage strip club. It also had been set up in other vacant parking lots around the city, catapulting two willing customers at a time into the air.

Police said at the time of the accident that a safety mechanism appeared to have failed and one of the ride's two seats disconnected. Cartier, whom police did not identify, was sitting in the seat and struck the ride's framework, they said.

At first, both men who paid for what was supposed to be brief entertainment were suspended 50 feet in the air. But when the Anchorage Fire Department freed Cartier, the man in the remaining seat shot up another 20 feet and was trapped for 45 minutes, police said.

[Read more: State investigating slingshot ride malfunction that injured man]

Cartier alleges one of the ride's bungee cords detached from its retainer — referred to in documents as the Elastic Ejection Element, or 3E — when a cotter pin and bolt holding the cord in place failed. Thompson handed over a nut and bolt to officers but wasn't able to find the cotter pin, police said.

"Plaintiff was struck all over his body by the bungee cords and metal bars, causing injury" to his body, the complaint says. Police reported that Cartier suffered severe facial injuries.

Cartier declined to comment for this story and his attorney, Frank Schlehofer, did not return a call.

The lawsuit says a subsequent inspection of the ride on July 2, 2014, found Thompson had replaced several components with cotter pins that were too small to secure the retainer connecting the bungee to the two-person "chair cage." Thompson also allegedly used improper fasteners on other parts of the ride.

The smaller cotter pin wasn't the one that failed, inspectors said.

Cartier also cites post-accident inspections that found the operator didn't adhere to rules about preliminary and post equipment checks, as well as routine maintenance mandated by the ride's user manual.

Those allegations mirror the findings of an Alaska Department of Labor investigation started immediately after the accident. That investigation's resulting report says the reason for the loss of the cotter pin that led to the accident will never be known. It continues by stating most accidents result from a series of actions, and then lists several things Thompson did wrong.

His failure to maintain the ride's retainer may have been responsible for the incident — he overused the elastic ejection element on at least 50 occasions, according to daily inspection logs he handed over to investigators.

The user manual indicates that component must be replaced every 400 uses, or "ejections." The inspection logs, dating back four years from the day Cartier was injured, show the retainer use was exceeded by as little as one ejection to as many as 1,060 ejections before the component was replaced.

Additionally, the report says Thompson failed to remedy rust accumulating on the ride as suggested by an August 2013 inspection; he didn't have a required second crew member to help operate the ride; and he didn't have an emergency plan in place.

Thompson could not be reached for comment. No one picked up at the number provided online for the company behind the Ejection Seat Ride, Thrills Unlimited LLC.

Al Nagel, program manager and acting director with the mechanical inspection section of DOL, said the ride remains in operation. It was inspected at last year's Alaska State Fair, he said.