ALTOONA, Iowa — A little more than a year ago, 11-year-old Michael Jaramillo drowned in the Raging River ride at Adventureland Park. Now, his parents are taking legal action against the state of Iowa.
The news comes after his mother and father previously filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a number of Adventureland managers for damages related to their son's death.
"Most important is the devastation of this family in such an unnecessary sort of way," said Fred Dorr, the family's lawyer. "I mean, if this had happened, it was what lawyers called an act of God or something that nobody could have avoided. That's one thing. But it's here, people not doing their job."
While investigating the case, Dorr found there were various items that the state of Iowa failed to take care of.
Dorr said one of those items involved the process of determining safety for the ride, saying the federal and state standards require that the operators of this ride make sure they are able to see the entire ride; so if something happens, they know how to respond.
"It's never been that way since the time this ride was installed," Dorr said. "And every year that this most recent inspector was inspecting that ride, he gave them a pass on that for over a decade."
Dorr said his team has filed their claims and now have to wait six months for the state to make a determination on how they would like to respond.
They say until that decision is made, himself and the Jaramillos will just have to wait and address the separate lawsuit against Adventureland.
Dorr also said the Jaramillo family is constantly reminded of the day they watched their beloved son take his last breath, saying they are using their strong faith to bring light to this dark time.