An off-duty police officer who helped save a boy who was hanging by his neck from a rope inside a King of Prussia amusement park is speaking out about the rescue.
West Vincent Township Police Officer John Kane was inside the Thrillz High Flying Adventure Park on 555 South Henderson Road in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, around 1:40 p.m. on Saturday. Kane was off-duty at the time and waiting for an attendant to help his children with a game.
At the same time, an 8-year-old boy was climbing headfirst down a rope ladder when he became entangled in the rope and began hanging by his neck, officials said.
“So his head was through that netting. His arms were dangling. He was foaming at the mouth and was unconscious,” Kane told NBC10. “And people were trying to get him out, either trying to untangle the rope, but it had cinched around his neck pretty good.”
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Kane said the boy was hanging four to five feet off the ground.
“When I first got to where he was, I didn’t have a positive outlook, just from what I was seeing with my own eyes," Kane said.
Kane, another off-duty officer, and Thrillz employees rushed into action to help get the boy out. Kane told NBC10 he grabbed a knife and handed it to another person who was above him on the rope ladder. Kane and the other off-duty officer then braced themselves to catch the child as he was being cut loose.
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“They were frantically cutting pieces of rope and there’s three people in there,” Kane said. “We were yelling, ‘Don’t cut too much because you’re going to end up dropping everybody on us!’”
The rescuers then cut the boy loose and he fell into the arms of the officers who began to perform CPR.
“Deputy Chief Cooper and I grabbed him and then made our way off to the exit and I immediately started doing chest compressions and Deputy Chief Cooper gave him a few rescue breaths,” Kane said.
As the officers attempted to revive the boy, a crowd of onlookers watched while the music inside continued to blast and the lights flashed.
“It’s loud music. Strobe lights. Black lights. All that’s going on while you’re trying to get people to get away from the area so that you can save somebody’s life,” Kane said.
Finally, after a few minutes, the boy awakened.
“He took a big gasp and we realized he was coming to,” Kane said.
Police said the boy was alert and able to speak. He was taken to the hospital.
“We are thankful to the KOP community for helping us respond in an effective and expeditious manner. We are told by police that the boy is okay and the injury is not serious," Lisa Cannon, the owner of Thrillz, wrote in a statement.
Kane, meanwhile, is happy he was in the right place at the right time.
“I’m just glad I was there,” Kane said. “And I’m glad the outcome was a positive outcome in the end.”
Investigators said the boy was with his family at the time and the incident was ruled accidental. Thrillz remained open on Saturday though the rope ladder the boy was climbing was closed.
"Our operations team includes a former military officer, who is a certified ride inspector by the Agriculture Department of Pennsylvania, which oversees ride and amusement safety in the state," Cannon wrote. "The rope ladder complies with ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) standards, which specify a 9 inch gap between knots, however, out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to further enhance the safety of our equipment by ordering a softer and tighter rope ladder. The obstacle will be closed until our installation is complete.”
Cannon also said the safety of the park's guests "is and always has been our number one priority.”
The amusement park had just recently opened in King of Prussia.
