Child Strangled by Zip Line at Georgia Adventure Park

At an Urban Air Adventure Park in Newnan, Georgia, a six-year-old girl was strangled by a zip line cord. And this isn’t the first time an incident like this has occurred at the chain.

A popular birthday destination, Urban Air Adventure Parks are indoor Theme Parks located across the United States. They offer plenty of exciting activities for children to enjoy, including climbing walls, APEX trampolines, bumper cars, obstacle courses, mini-golf, and even a rope course trail in the air.

One of the most popular attractions at Urban Air is the Sky Rider, a zip line roller coaster that Guests can ride high above the rest of the indoor Theme Park. It’s a fun concept, giving an aerial view of all the fun activities kids can participate in. However, it spelled disaster for a young girl and her father in Newnan, GA.

Girl Strangled on Sky Rider at Urban Air Adventure Park in Georgia

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On June 27, Michael Wilbourn took his six-year-old daughter to Urban Air, where she decided to try out the Sky Rider. Soon, he heard a little girl calling out for her dad, saying she couldn’t breathe. It turned out to be his daughter. “The zip line was tied around her neck four times,” Wilbourn told WSB-TV.

He leaped over a counter, onto some netting, and climbed 12 feet to reach his child, helping her down from the ride. “I had to put my arms between her legs and keep the pressure off her neck to swivel her around like this,” he said as he demonstrated how he unwrapped her. No employees came to help.

Michael Wilbourn approached the manager, saying they needed to do better. Despite being offered a ticket refund, Wilbourn declined. “Regardless of how it happened, it should have been somebody there to jump into motion right then,” he said, “I believe my baby would have died.”

His daughter continued to play afterward but complained of neck and back pain, and Wilbourn called the paramedics. “I was just looking at her physical appearance and her face,” her father said. “I didn’t think to pull her hair up to see what damage was done to her body. She had been strangled by something, and there were abrasions.”

This Isn’t Urban Air’s First Incident

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A spokesperson for Urban Air Adventure Park gave a statement on behalf of the company, “The uncompromising safety of our Guests and employees is our highest priority. And we are so grateful that she was able to stay in the Park and play.” Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened at an Urban Air franchise.

In 2022, a three-year-old child was also strangled by the zip line in Illinois. There were also two incidents of children falling from the Sky Rider in Florida and Reno, Nevada, in 2019. In all situations, the parents sued the company.

In order to try and curb this issue, Urban Air Adventure Park has been having Guests sign a waiver before playing in their indoor Theme Park. However, Michael Wilbourn doesn’t think it’s enough, saying that as a customer and parent, he trusts that the employees would properly secure the harness.

“I pretty much caught the aftermath,” he said. “(With) the same company, this is happening in different cities around the world. I don’t think they’re measuring these kids. I think they just throw them on there.”

Do you think employees should be more closely monitoring the children? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!