Hatch swings open on Florida State Fair ride, injuring woman, she says. ‘Nightmare’

A woman says she was injured on a Florida State Fair ride when a hatch swung open while the ride was in motion, she wrote on Facebook.

“Probably one of the scariest moments of my life,” wrote Eve Shoffstall, who also goes by Eve Brock.

Brock was on a ride called the Spin Out when a 6-foot metal hatch swung open, she wrote on Facebook on Feb. 12. The lid opened and slammed shut, causing lightbulbs on the ride to break.

“I would stop it with my feet, more bulbs would burst,” she wrote. “It was spinning so fast I knew the hinge holding it couldn’t last long under that constant jarring.”

Both of her ankles were sprained, she wrote.

Frank Zaitshik, midway manager for the Florida State Fair, said a “ride incident” occurred just after noon on Feb. 12, according to a statement sent by a spokeswoman to McClatchy News.

“The ride operator followed proper safety protocol and brought the ride down safely to its resting position,” the statement says.

Paramedics on site evaluated one person, and no further treatment was needed “to our knowledge,” the statement says.

A third-party team of inspectors and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspected the ride and deemed it safe to continue operating, the statement says.

Brock wrote on Facebook that she and other riders were screaming on the ride as people on the ground below also screamed.

The Spin Out ride consists of a rotating platform, an arm and a claw that also spins in the air.

Brock posted photos on Facebook of riders suspended in the air after the ride was stopped and shattered bulbs on the ground below. Brock told WFLA she was on the ride with her boyfriend’s 9-year-old son.

She told the outlet that her boyfriend’s 6-year-old daughter was on the ground “sobbing her little eyes out” as she watched the riders wait for 20 minutes to be lowered down after the ride was stopped.

Brock did not respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Feb. 14.

After she was lowered off of the ride, she said she had to go to an emergency room.

“Florida state fair ended up being a nightmare,” she wrote.

The Florida State Fair runs from Feb. 9-20 in Tampa and includes more than 90 midway rides, according to the website.

This story was originally published February 14, 2023 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Hatch swings open on Florida State Fair ride, injuring woman, she says. ‘Nightmare’."