Widow sues Adventureland worker in husband's death

The wife of an Adventureland worker killed last year while working on the Raging River ride has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against another Adventureland employee, claiming a failure to follow several protocols caused her husband's fatal injuries.

Steve Booher, 68, died from trauma to his skull and brain suffered June 7 when he fell from a loading platform onto a conveyor belt carrying the large circular rafts that ferry riders through the popular water ride. The moving belt pulled Booher in between a raft and a concrete sidewall, causing the injuries, according to the lawsuit.

Booher and another worker who were helping load guests onto the rafts were both yanked off their feet when the ride operator, Stuart Glen, started moving the ride forward without first getting a "thumbs up" signal from from the pair on the platform, according to the lawsuit. The instructions for operating the Raging River were posted in front of him on the ride's control board at the time, which is located in a tower above the loading platform, according to the suit.

Glen was trained by the park to get a "thumbs up" before starting the conveyor belt to ensure that loading assistants were clear of the rafts before they begin moving, the lawsuit said. Glen also failed to hit an emergency button that would have immediately stopped the belt once he realized that Booher and the other employee had fallen, according to the lawsuit.

Glen, a Texas resident who was also a seasonal worker, is named as the sole defendant in the lawsuit. Guy Cook, a Des Moines attorney who represents Adventureland and Glen, said a key dispute in the lawsuit is whether Glen's actions reach the level of "wanton and reckless disregard" for Booher's safety, which the lawsuit alleges.

"This unfortunate circumstance was an accident," he said. "It was the result of an inadvertent movement of a boat conveyor by an operator. No guests of the park were injured or ever put at risk."

Cook said that Adventureland has already paid the Booher family "consistent with the provisions of Iowa's workers' compensation laws." The park has also installed additional safety measures to prevent a similar accident from happening in the future, he said.

Nick Rowley, one of the attorneys representing Booher's wife, said Monday he was out of the country and not immediately available to speak with a reporter.

Booher, a retired postal worker, worked at the Altoona amusement park for six days before the fatal fall. He and his wife were retirees from Oklahoma who traveled to Iowa in their RV for the summer.

"Steve was having a great time," Gladys Booher, his wife, wrote on Facebook about his job at the park. "He loved watching the kids enjoying the rides."

Booher was on life support at Mercy Medical Center for several days following the fall before he died on June 11, according to the lawsuit.

Adventureland paid a $4,500 fine following Booher's death that was levied by the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration for failing to create a safe work environment. However, the agency did not find evidence that Adventureland willfully violated safety protocols, a finding that could have led to an even larger fine.

The lawsuit asks for Glen to pay damages that would make up for Booher's future earning potential, as well as loss of consortium for his wife and their adult children. The lawsuit was initially filed in Polk County but was moved to federal court in Des Moines this month at the request of Glen's attorneys.

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