One of the designers of a massive Kansas water park slide that decapitated a 10-year-old boy has been arrested in Texas, federal authorities said Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. John Timothy Schooley was met by agents at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as he arrived on a flight Monday. Schooley, 72, was being held without bond at the Dallas County jail pending extradition to Kansas on charges that include second-degree murder. A Kansas grand jury indicted Schooley and Jeffrey Henry , a co-owner of Texas-based Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts. The indictment accuses Henry of making a “spur of the moment” decision to build the Verruckt ride — touted as the world’s tallest water slide — and that he and Schooley lacked technical or engineering expertise in amusement park rides.
Caleb Schwab was killed on the 17-story Verruckt in 2016 when the raft he was riding went airborne and hit an overhead loop. Schooley and Henry also were charged with 17 other felonies, including aggravated battery and aggravated endangerment of a child—counts tied to injuries that other riders sustained on the giant slide. Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio said the indictment “is filled with information that we fully dispute.” The indictment alleges the ride violated “nearly all aspects” of longstanding standards established by the American Society for Testing and Materials. “In fact, the design and operation of the Verruckt complied with few, if any, of the industry safety standards,” the indictment said.