N.C. State Fair Employee Killed in Ride Accident

At about 10:55 a.m., Allen, who is from Philadelphia, was on a platform below the ride when he slipped and was struck by one of the cars on its way down.

One other person -- a 15-year-old girl -- was injured in the accident. She was in the car that hit the attendant but walked away with only several bruises.

"It was a tragic accident," said Mike Blanton, assistant commissioner of the N.C. Department of Agriculture, which is responsible for organizing the fair. "It appears as though (Allen) got in the path of the Banzai ride while it was operating and a foot rest struck him in the head."

Investigators said they assume the blow to the head to be the cause of Allen's death, but Wake County medical examiners have yet to release the results of a full autopsy.

"It's not unusual at all for ride attendants to stand right on the platform, and it was not any sort of safety violation for Amusements of America," Blanton said.

He said that several eyewitnesses have reported that they saw a cell phone drop out of a rider's pocket and that Allen had gone to retrieve it when he was hit by the car.

Allen McNeely, director of Research and Policy Division at the N.C. Department of Labor, said investigators arrived at the fair almost immediately.

"Our inspectors were on the scene within a minute," he said. "We had people inspecting the workplace fatality and the ride itself. They interviewed people who were on the ride and the ride operator."

Investigators were unable to immediately release the identity of the victim because they had a hard time contacting the man's next of kin. Police finally contacted Allen's stepmother in Philadelphia.

"There was a lot of confusion," Blanton said. "There have been rumors that his wife was also working at the fair. But we have yet to confirm if she is his wife or girlfriend. They were obviously close because she was very upset."

Allen had been employed by Amusements of America for 10 years before he took a year off because he was tired of the extensive traveling his job required. Blanton said Allen rejoined the company exclusively for the N.C. fair.

This is the first year the state fair has been run by Amusements of America, a company that provides rides, booths and workers for fairs across the country.

Blanton said two or three Amusement of America employees have been killed in the past 20 years, usually during setup of the fair's rides. He said the 135-year-old N.C. State Fair has never had a fatality because of the rides.

The Banzai ride reopened Thursday night after a final cleanup of the area.

"There wasn't any problem with the ride," Blanton said. "He just got in the way of the moving car, and that's unfortunate."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.