A father is angry after his daughter was turned away from a slide because she was five pounds over the weight limit.
Andrew Batton claims his daughter was left in tears after staff at the Raging Rivers Waterpark in Grafton, Illinois, forced her to step onto the scales weighing in front of a crowd.
He told KMOV4 that she was the victim of public humiliation and that the encounter would leave her in need of therapy.
The Mississippi Monster is the newest slide at the waterpark and Batton and his family tried it out. The 13-year-old daughter of Batton was stopped by the ride operator after queueing for the attraction.
Andrew Batton took his family to the popular amusement park, Raging Rivers Waterpark hoping to get on the Mississippi Monster. “The guy looked at us and to my daughter and said, ‘You need to step on the scale,” Batton said. Inside Edition Digital’s @OfficerStephNY explains. pic.twitter.com/0QtZRNlzUL
— Inside Edition (@InsideEdition) July 15, 2022
“The guy looked at us and my daughter and said, ‘You need to step on the scale’,” he recalled to KMOV4. “She steps on the scale and she’s 205.”
The young girl was banned from the attraction because of the weight limit on the slide. Her father said there were no signs that the ride had a weight limit.
Batton described how painful the experience had been for his daughter, saying: “The disappointment that she felt by not being able to ride the brand-new ride was definitely overshadowed by the public humiliation of being asked to step on a scale.”
Even though he and his daughter were season ticket holders, neither of them would be returning to the theme park again.
“To have a company be responsible for such a massive mental impact on my daughter, it’s tough. Tears wound up in her eyes. We as parents now have to undo the emotional damage that this corporate company caused us,” he continued. The outraged dad even went so far as to say that the incident was something his child would be “discussing in therapy for years to come.”
In a statement, Raging Rivers defended the decision to impose a weight limit on the ride.
“Our goal is never to embarrass anyone, but we must look out for their safety while visiting Raging Rivers,” said a spokesperson for the park.
They added that “signage is located at the base of the slide, alerting guests of this restriction.”
“We will continue to follow manufacturer guidelines for safety while offering our guests a fun experience at Raging Rivers Waterpark,” the statement concluded.
