A co-owner of Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts was arrested Monday in connection with a Kansas criminal case arising from a 10-year-old boy's death on what was promoted as the world's largest waterslide.
Records show that Jeffery Henry was booked into the jail in Cameron County, Texas. He was being held without bond, and a jail booking clerk said he would remain there until a court appearance Tuesday.
According to the Cameron County Sheriff's Office Henry is facing several charges including murder and multiple counts of aggravated assault.
Henry's arrest follows a Kansas grand jury's indictment last week of the Schlitterbahn park in Kansas City, Kansas, and its former operations director, Tyler Austin Miles, on 20 felony charges. They included a single count of involuntary manslaughter over the death of Caleb Schwab in 2016.
Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio said in a statement that considering last week's indictment, the company is not surprised by Henry's arrest.
"We as a company and as a family will fight these allegations and have confidence that once the facts are presented it will be clear that what happened on the ride was an unforeseeable accident," she said in an emailed statement.
Caleb was decapitated while riding on the Verruckt slide in the Kansas City park. The indictment alleges that the ride met few, if any, industry standards and that Miles delayed or avoided necessary repairs.
The waterslide has been closed since Caleb's death. Schlitterbahn has said it will dismantle the ride when the investigation into the boy's death is complete.
Caleb Schwab's family reached settlements of nearly $20 million with Schlitterbahn and various companies associated with the design and construction of the waterslide. The two women who rode with Caleb suffered serious injuries and settled claims with Schlitterbahn for an undisclosed amount.
Before the boy's death, Kansas law allowed parks to conduct their own annual inspections of rides.
Lawmakers last year nearly unanimously approved stricter, annual inspection requirements for amusement park rides that set qualifications for the inspectors and required parks to report injuries and deaths to the state.
But only weeks later, lawmakers passed a follow-up bill delaying the enforcement of criminal penalties for operating a ride without a state permit until this year. And this year, the Senate and a House committee have approved legislation to lessen regulation for "limited use" rides at events like county fairs and exempt some amusements, such as hay rides, from regulation.
