DARIEN, N.Y. — Multiple people suffered injuries while riding the "Silver Bullet" at Darien Lake Saturday evening.
It happened at about 5:12 p.m.
"We're just eating ice cream, and I looked over, and the cars were all flipping, and that's not the way they're supposed to flip,” said Julie Karpinski, who was at Darien Lake Saturday. “Also the ride was more slow than it usually is, so people were screaming. You could tell something was wrong, they weren't screaming out of amusement.”
Karpinski heard the screams, and then her boyfriend Ryan Puleo quickly shot phone video, one showing the ride not moving properly and the other showing the Silver Bullet coming down to release the riders.
"The people rushing off the ride and then, like, the paramedics from Darien Lake coming to the scene,” Puleo said.
“I think we were the first ones who saw it actually besides the parents, because the parents definitely noticed something was wrong right away cause they were standing right by the ride and they were screaming, they noticed their kids were screaming,” Karpinski said.
Darien Lake says this was not a ride malfunction, yet they couldn't offer an explanation as to what caused it.
In an updated statement Sunday, a spokesperson wrote, "I can confirm, the ride successfully completed its daily inspection this morning and opened at 11 a.m. when the park opened."
Since 2011 – thanks to 2 On Your Side reporting about a fatal ride accident – New York State has made ride inspections public, and you can search the ride database online.
The inspections show that only about 1 percent of rides at Darien Lake had violations as of their most recent state inspection, and the Silver Bullet, which is listed online under its manufacturer's name Enterprise, passed as recently as late May.
“We'll go back but probably not ride that ride again,” Puleo said.
Below is a statement released by Darien Lake general manager Chris Thorpe on Saturday:
At approximately 5:12 this evening, in the process of bringing the Silver Bullet to a stop, some guests received injuries, resulting in minor first aid response from the Darien Lake Medical Team. The Silver Bullet, and all of our rides, receive standard daily inspections each morning. After injuries were reported, our safety crews conducted an assessment and confirmed that the ride is operating safely within standard guidelines. Darien Lake will reopen tomorrow at 11 a.m. and the Silver Bullet will be operational.
The incident was caught on camera by Puleo, tweeted us this video below.
@wgrz @news4buffalo @wkbw "Silver Bullet" scary ride malfuction at Darien Lake today pic.twitter.com/8AcQ6yURz1
— Ry (@ItsRyanPuleo) September 30, 2017