The grief-stricken dad of the 7-year-old girl killed at Playland amusement park in Rye had to be hospitalized yesterday after suffering shock and depression from the tragedy.
“I can’t take this, my heart is empty,” Guerdy Dieudonne said on the doorstep of his New Rochelle home after his sister drove him back from the hospital.
Dieudonne’s daughter, Stephanie, was killed Saturday while riding the “Mind Scrambler” at the park. She was thrown from the ride after possibly kneeling instead of sitting in her seat, authorities said.
Despite her death, New York is a safe state when it comes to thrill parks, statistics show.
The Empire State has the fourth-lowest number of amusement-ride accidents, according to a Web site maintained by Kathy Fackler, a California woman whose son was injured in a roller-coaster mishap at Disneyland.
Bob Cate, of the Council for Amusement and Recreational Equipment Safety Organizations, said the No. 1 cause of fatal accidents is rider inattentiveness.
Fackler disagreed, saying, “The restraints just aren’t designed for [kids].”
Additional reporting by Andy Geller