2 Men Acquitted in Connection With 10-Year-Old Boy’s Death on Kansas Waterslide

A jury has found two employees at a Kansas water park not guilty of obstructing an investigation into the 2016 death of a boy on the Verruckt slide, which was billed as the world’s tallest before it was closed down.

Caleb Schwab, 10, was killed while going down the water slide in the summer of 2016. David Hughes and John Zalsman, two employees at Schlitterbahn Waterpark, were accused of lying to investigators in the boy’s death, but a jury on Oct. 18 found them not guilty, KSHB reported.

“I’m relieved for my client,” said Chris Joseph, who represented Zalsman, according to the Kansas City Star. “I think John really was innocent. I think he went there to try and help out. There’s no way he went there to try and throw off an investigation. I don’t believe it for a second.”

“The verdict speaks for itself,” Kansas Attorney General spokeswoman Jennifer Montgomery said.

This June 2016 photo provided by David Strickland shows Caleb Thomas Schwab, the son of Scott Schwab, a Kansas state lawmaker from Olathe. David Strickland via AP

Hughes and Zalsman, both maintenance workers, were the first employees to stand trial in the death. Others have also been charged, including one of Schlitterbahn’s owners and the designer of the slide, who have both pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, according to The Associated Press.

The since-closed waterslide used rafts that made the 17-story drop at speeds of up to 70 mph, followed by a surge over the hump and a 50-foot descent to a finishing pool. Caleb was in a raft that went airborne and slammed him into a metal pole that supported a net meant to keep riders from flying off the slide. Two women on the raft also were injured.

Prosecutors said that Hughes and Zalsman failed to replace a brake mat that fell from the slide two weeks prior to the boy’s death. They told investigators that the mat was on only during the testing phase.

“These are just two good old boys, they’re hard-working guys and because they’re the only two adults in the room they get singled out and have to get charged,” said Scott Toth, defense attorney for Hughes, AP reported.

“Why would two working-class, hourly guys lie about something insignificant. It doesn’t make sense,” Joseph said, KSHB reported.

Park co-owner Jeff Henry, the Verruckt designer John Schooley, and former manager Tyler Miles all face charges related to the death of the child.

Winter Prosapio, a spokeswoman for Schlitterbahn, told People magazine earlier this year that “the allegation that we operated, and failed to maintain, a ride that could foreseeably cause such a tragic accident is beyond the pale of speculation.”

“Many of us, and our children and grandchildren, have ridden the ride with complete confidence as to its safety,” Prosapio said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.