It seems that last week’s ruling that the death of Sgt. Hackemer was due to operator error on the part of Darien Lake has caused the Hackemer family to now file a wrongful death suit against the park, according to BuffaloNews.com. Initially after the incident occurred in early July, the Hackemer family had stated that they did not hold the park responsible for his death and did not believe the park was negligent. After the recent developments in the investigation however, in which they found out the park violated its own safety procedures, they have changed that standpoint.



Last week, we reported that WSYR-TV had found out that Darien Lake had been fined for two violations as a result of the incident. The New York State Department of Labor determined that, while the roller coaster was operating properly, the ride operators did not follow the park’s rules, which stated riders must have both legs in order to be secured properly. The park was then issued two violations: 1) That operators were not properly trained on safety and operations restrictions for the rides, 2) The operators were not familiar with the ride’s safety requirements. Neither the park nor the ride operators face any criminal charges however, as an investigation by the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department determined that while the park violated its own policy, they were not criminal violations.



The family’s attorny, Denis J. Bastible, told The Buffalo News that “[Darien Lake] didn’t train their employees to follow the rules and the result was tragic. [Hackemer] leaves two very young children behind and his family is doing terribly.” He also stated that “The family in no way took this decision lightly.” That lawsuit is now being filed against the firm that owns the park property, CNL Income Darien Lake LLC, and Herschend Family Entertainment, who manages the park.



Since the incident, all of the Ride of Steel operators have been retrained in safety procedures, and all safety restrictions must be reviewed prior to the start of each operators shift. Darien Lake has also put up new signage to describe the ride’s safety regulations. Ride of Steel was closed after the incident on July 8 while, but has since reopened due to the park’s corrective actions mentioned previously.