Arizona mom shares terrifying incident at SeaWorld in San Diego
SAN DIEGO (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - One mom experienced a huge scare when her daughter's safety belt came loose while they were riding the Electric Eel Roller Coaster at SeaWorld in San Diego.
Salina Higgins, her 10-year-old daughter and her 14-year-old niece visited SeaWorld San Diego from Tucson, Arizona on Tuesday.
After riding rides all day, Higgins and her daughter decided to get on the Electric Eel, while her niece watched and took a video as they got to the rides peak.
"And I happened to open my eyes and my daughter started screaming cause her strap was, they call it a comfort strap, was dangling in front of her face as we hung upside down. So I then grabbed the strap, secured it and held onto it for dear life, as we both were screaming until the ride was over."
Salina Higgins
Higgins says there's also a lap bar designed to hold the rider in place, but she's not sure if it malfunctioned too.
"This latch was latched before we left, I checked it. The employee also walked by and pulled on it and checked it, so what's to say that this latch didn't now stay in place, what's to stay the bar doesn't also stay in place," Higgins detailed.
Once they got off, Higgins says she told an attendant what happened and then, the attendant apologized before loading more people on the ride. So, Higgins went to guest services to speak with a manager.
"He asked me, 'Did you read the disclaimer before getting on the ride?' And shockingly I said, 'Does the disclaimer explain that the comfort straps are optional? Because if it does, then please, I have no case here.' And then he laughed and said, 'I don't think so.' So then I said to my 10- and 14-year-old children to run at 10 o'clock at night to go take a picture of this disclaimer."
Salina Higgins
This is the disclaimer that she's talking about, and it reads: "Hold on tight and remain seated with the comfort collar secured at all times during the ride."
"And when I showed him that, he threw his hands in the air and said I could call the number found on the website and had security escort us off the property," Higgins shared.
Higgins says she's emailed more than 100 SeaWorld and OSHA contacts trying to get help and then made a TikTok post that went viral.
"Yeah, I am now advocating for all the other people now commenting on this post, this TikTok that has almost six million views, who also says this has happened to them. So now, this has become something bigger," Higgins remarked.
She says she wants SeaWorld employees to be more careful and less dismissive. She also wants this to remind viewers to speak up when they feel somethings not right.
