# Actor In Christmas Pageant Dies After 25 Foot Fall



## Eboy87

I saw this story while perusing the news this morning, after reading the threads about flying people. An actor who was being flown died after she fell. No word on whether it was a jerry-rigged or professional. I'm assuming the later.

Here's the story.


----------



## derekleffew

Slightly more detailed story from a Cincinnati TV station: Updated: Woman Injured In Fall During Christmas Show Dies - Local News Story - WLWT Cincinnati, and the obligatory statement from the venue: Awaited Statement :: About Crossroads.

edit: More sketchy details: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081218/NEWS01/312170096/1055/NEWS.

edit: It just keeps getting worse. From http://www.local12.com/content/brea...r-Dies-After-Fall/q7y2EcSYhEOfbrXReykeYg.cspx.

> Police say she was wearing a safety harness, which failed but officials don't know why that happened. Church officials say Shryock was an experienced rope performer and instructor. OSHA does not have jurisdiction to investigate because no one participating in the performance was paid. The police now have possession of the harness and will try to determine whether the fall was caused by equipment malfunction or human error.


----------



## Footer

I am saying many expletives to myself, and would put them here if I could, but this is just stupid. This should not have happened. If people knew what they were doing, even common fall protection procedures would have stopped this. This was not an accident in my opinion. This was negligence and should be prosecuted as such, even manslaughter could be and should be considered. There was no reason for this person to die. Its one thing when a rigger falls because they were to stupid to clip in, its another thing all together when you trust your life in the hands of others and they fail you. 

I know this same thing happens in churches in this area.


----------



## lieperjp

Why one should always use properly rated harnesses:


> The harness has a warning label which says it should only be used for repelling or rock climbing.


----------



## Van

This is why Churches should leave the Theatrics to Theatres!
I'm with Footer. This was not an accident and more than the moron with a blank gun putting it against his head and pulling the trigger this was someone elses negligennce. Hell I'd love to see what they were rigged too. Think they just tied onto lighting points ?


----------



## Footer

Van said:


> Hell I'd love to see what they were rigged too. Think they just tied onto lighting points ?






Looks to be just a petzl style sit harness and from what I can tell a single point holding her up. The sad thing is that myself, and probably a number of people on here, have a 5 point harness in their car or within reach. It is obvious that whoever did this has not clue as to what they are doing. I have a feeling it was someone with rock climbing experience and rigged it as such. Anyone even remotely theatre related would never put someone in a rock climbing harness. 

Basicly... what this comes down to....

[Delete expletive] idiots.


Oh... and this is from the Crossroads Church website....


> Serve Within
> 
> Want to know what makes Crossroads happen? Volunteers.
> 
> Thousands of them, doing everything from holding babies and building sets, to leading our big ReachOut events. It’s all important, and it’s all done by average Crossroads people. And yes, we need you.
> 
> Register and see all the ways to serve and get connected.




http://mfile.akamai.com/12885/wmv/vod.ibsys.com/2008/1218/18312882.200k.asx


Anyone else for a road trip?? I am off work tomorrow until the 5th.


----------



## derekleffew

It can never be said too often, or too strenuously: What is it about the holidays that cause normal people to lose their minds?

Ignorance should be prosecutable, the same as negligence.


----------



## renegadeblack

Footer said:


> Anyone even remotely theatre related would never put someone in a rock climbing harness.



Anyone remotely theatre related would have hired professionals to come and install the rig. 

It's quite sad, a life could have been saved with a phone call.


----------



## What Rigger?

Before we jump to any conclusions (myself included): 

IF the point she was on failed, that's one thing. As we've all said before, rigging should be done only by those qualified (and that's real easy for us to say at this point).

On the other hand: IF she was on a Spanish Web, you've opened a whole 'nuther can of worms.IF she was harnessed, she couldn't have been on a Web. Acrobatics, such as Spanish Web, silk/tissue acts, etc...seem to function in a slightly parallel universe. Fall protection is not used, generally, because the fall protection is more of a hazard than NOT using fall protection in these situations. Fall protection is, generally, not designed for this use and as such cannot function properly. Believe it or not (and I'm sort of loathe to mention this here), there are written, completely legal times to not use fall protection. But no way in h3ll am I gonna tell anyone here where/when that is. And it doesn't generally make it a good idea either. That's why you need to be trained in these things by legit sources.
In acrobatics, people fall. It's a fact of life, and a known risk going into it. Ask that performer at Zumanity who came down hard a few months ago. Ask the Wallendas who lost one of theirs in a tight rope walk.

{from www.wallendas.com}It was during a promotional walk in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in March, 1978, that the patriarch of the Great Wallendas fell to his death at age 73. Not because of his age or capabilities, not because of the wind, but because of several misconnected guy ropes along the wire. Karl once said, "Life is being on the wire, everything else is just waiting." The Wallenda legacy lives on to the sixth and seventh generations through Karl's grandchildren and great-grandchildren

Until anything official comes out, we have to reserve judgement or jumping to conclusions. I'd be willing to bet a week's pay that it's not so cut and dry. But I've been wrong before.


----------



## TimMiller

When i heard the news tonight my stomach cringed. I just got done wrapping up a show that had teh cirque desole style in which we had aerialests flying around. The big thing with our show was that it was done by professionals, professional aerialests, and professional riggers who specialize in these types of high risk stunts. I had to completely move around my lighting positions due to the possibilities of something happen. If there was a possibility of something happening such as rope getting wraped around an instrument or truss, we would move it.

Always remember gear can be replaced, people cannot. I heard on the news i was reading it was a failure in the connection between the rope and the D ring on her harness which first thing that came to my mind was that it was not a propper caribeaner nor was it a locking one which is a must when flying. The company that we used used locking ones in which you had to depress a button before spinning the sleave to then be able to unclip it.

For anyone looking we used Aerial Experience Productions

They are a very nice bunch of people with lots of professional experience.


----------



## ruinexplorer

What sickens me is that it is being ruled an accident. In my opinion, it is gross negligence. The police are just letting it go, even when they inspected the harness and it stated right on there that it is to be used only for rock climbing and repelling, any other use could result in serious injury or death. They said that could be instrumental in a civil trial, but they are just going to rule it an accident! I hope that these people responsible have to live with something more than their concience. They not only affected the life of that performer, but her family and their entire community. Just think, the other two performers could have suffered a similar fate and she could have landed on the audience. Then would there have been charges?

I do believe that they should have to make ammends. I certainly hope that every single trade mag (especially those targeted to HOW and amateur theater) will plaster this all over their front covers and we can stop amateur flying. This is senseless and should never happen again.

Stepping off my soapbox.


----------



## gafftaper

My reaction to this story brought me back to my backstage tour at Cirque: Ka. At Ka you have very serious pro performers who do dangerous stunts two times a night (plus rehearsals) with the best gear and the best crew. When at all possible, below them there is a safety net. Some of the falls are so high they put a big stunt airbag on top of the net because the net alone would still be dangerous. On the other hand in this situation, you have someone who aparently hasn't done anything gymnastic in years, using aparently inappropriate gear, and no safety net. It's as if someone saw Cirque and said, "that's cool and it looks easy." Then copied what they thought they saw without any of the hidden details, expert knowledge, and experience, that minimize the risk. 

It's a lot like those stories you hear about a kid's doing dumb things because they saw it on a show like "Bevis and Butthead" or "Jackass" and thought it would be cool to try at home. 

So sad. So senseless. And you are right, whomever gave the "extensive training" should be held criminally accountable for their neglegence.


----------



## Footer

Where are the artcles about the failed D ring and the extensive training?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## Van

The third news story link in Dereks thread mentions the "extensive training" and the Failed safety letch on the harness. It also mentions the fact that the harness was for 'rappelling only"


----------



## Darthrob13

I heard this the other day as well. We all know that there are dozens of "angels" being flown right now, in Christmas pagents. 

I can only hope that people will read this and realize that maybe Suzy the 5 year old angel, while cute...shouldn't be flown on the block and fall from Andy's barn.


----------



## venuetech

> 30 feet into an aisle in the audience portion of the theater


above the audience ?? 

were they "fortunate" (for lack of a better word) that she landed in an aisle and not on members of the congregation? 

this does point to negligence. who in their right mind would expose the audience to that kind of hazard.

what they dont say is how many years this production has happened.
these things are built and added to each year. was this a new element in the production. or had it been done (this way) for many years?


----------



## Van

One of the articles does mention that this was a new element to the "production". This was the first year with "acrobats".

I'm glad you noticed the thing about falling into the aisle as well. Yes they are ****ed lucky she didn't land across 3-4 people sitting in pews. moving at 32 feet per second she'd have done some damage.


----------



## theatretechguy

I'm sure if that happened the church would be quick to say it "was probably God's will anyway". I'm sickened by these mega churches and their ultimate goal of making more money while completely disregarding the safety and financial well-being of their parish or staff. But that's topic for another discussion ...


----------



## msr5752

We had a community theater group come in and put on Wizard of Oz and they wanted to hang a (swing set type) chair on a baton to "fly" Glenda for her entrance. Needless to say we said NO!!!! & they changed the blocking and rolled her in on a grand stair case.

I'm just astounded on what people think is ok and safe in there minds.


I've trained in ariel arts and have rope & tissue. I hang them off my grid & work out when we are dark. My crew was blown away when they found out that I could do that. There is no way that I could do the great tricks being tied to a safety line. I maybe crazy (well don't we all have to be a little bit) but when safety is even approached I have ZERO tolerance for doing it correctly.


----------



## gafftaper

Maybe through C.B.'s high placement in Google Search this tragic discussion will make someone else think twice and prevent a similar tragic event from happening.


----------



## photoatdv

Okay what is rope and tissue? Do you have a picture of you perfoming or practicing? You have my curiocity.


----------



## derekleffew

Followup, coroner's ruling (text and video): Costume Kept Performer's Harness From Clasping - Cincinnati News Story - WLWT Cincinnati.


----------



## theatretechguy

Ugh, it sounds like their trying to place their blame on her. Sickening.


----------



## avkid

theatretechguy said:


> Ugh, it sounds like their trying to place their blame on her. Sickening.


More like trying to prove she knew better than to do what she did.


----------



## ruinexplorer

I was interested to see that it has gone to the county prosecuters office as it had previously been deemed an accident by the police and locally, no criminal prosecution was being sought. While I hope that there is criminal charges sought, in order to help to prevent another similar tragedy, I hope that there is no jail time involved. I hope that if there is anyone found guilty that the sentence would include public service in making others aware of the dangers of arial acts and to leave it to the professionals. 

Please note, I don't want anyone to think I have any dislike for anyone involved in this church or its community and I want to make sure that I don't want to see anyone "punished" because of this tragedy. I see "justice" being served by having this senseless tragedy provide a means to prevent other tragedies which is why I think that this should go to court, and something beyond a civil case. I continue to keep this family and those who witnessed this event in my prayers.


----------



## cprted

ruinexplorer said:


> I was interested to see that it has gone to the county prosecuters office as it had previously been deemed an accident by the police and locally, no criminal prosecution was being sought. While I hope that there is criminal charges sought, in order to help to prevent another similar tragedy, I hope that there is no jail time involved.


In all likelihood, sending a report to the prosecutor in a fatality situation would probably be standard procedure regardless of the circumstances. The report may very well say the manner of death was accidental and no charges are recommended. 

Even in a case like this one, criminal negligence would be hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Civil suits have a much lower standard of proof.


----------



## Van

photoatdv said:


> Okay what is rope and tissue? Do you have a picture of you perfoming or practicing? You have my curiocity.


 Typically Rope and Tissue refers to acrobatics preformed on a Circus "thread" which is a specific type of rope, the kind you see arielists hanging by their teeth from, Big, thick, relatively soft, spiral or twisted lay.
Tissue is typically a term used for Spanish silk. Their was a tv commercial for Yogurt or something else completely stupid not too long ago, where this lady goes running up to what looks like big curtains, they wrap around her arms and she swings on them. That's what's often reffered to as Spainish Silk, or tissue. Again these are both real common Cirque' de Soliel kind things. They make it look so easy Everybody thinks they can do it. 

Ruinexplorer , I'm right there with you. I have nothing against any one church, but I do want to make sure this doesn't happen again. I would not, however, be dissapointed to see someone spend some locked up over this. This was truely negligant, I haven't yet read the follow up story that Derek posted but even that aside, this was a completely avoidable injury. An Accident is what happens when life smacks you up side the head, like when a boulder rolls off the side of Mt. Hood at the exact right time to intercept a car doing the speed limt on Hwy26, killing all those in the car. An incompetent arielist allowed to perform, over an audience, with no saftey net, is not an accident. It's manslaughter, at best, and Involuntary Homicide at worse.


----------



## ruinexplorer

cprted said:


> In all likelihood, sending a report to the prosecutor in a fatality situation would probably be standard procedure regardless of the circumstances. The report may very well say the manner of death was accidental and no charges are recommended.
> 
> Even in a case like this one, criminal negligence would be hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Civil suits have a much lower standard of proof.



Oh, I agree, this probably won't go to trial. It also would be very hard to prosecute. If it did go to trial, regardless of outcome, it would help set a precedent for this type of effect. Most certainly, fewer groups would try to do it, at least in Ohio, due to the risk of prosecution. That alone would help prevent another tragedy.

I saw as a suggestion on another list that experts in our field, such as Bill Sapsis, help organizations outside our field to understand that this is being done. In other words, make HOWs aware that there are professional groups that deal with flying effects and can help them safely pull it off. Also, letting the mountaineering/climbing community be aware that they may be approached on this type of effect and how to assist them in directing the requestor in the right direction. 

My problem is that I feel that this will just be ruled and accident, justice will not be done (I don't think a civil judgement in this instance is justice), and we will see it happen again BECAUSE it is ruled an accident. That is the tragic nature of our "justice" system.


----------



## venuetech

The video does show the gear and explanation 

I wrote a note to the editor of church production  magazine. Encouraging them to write a safety article concerning safely flying performers in a house of worship. And the need for expert/professional help doing so.
Past articles concerning rigging basics stress getting expert help. (Do a search for “safety” on their page) 

I believe that there other house of worship production trade magazines out there that might take a hint and publish informational articles. If we take the time to send them a few words on how important the subject is. 

The one thing we do not want, is to cover this same subject again next december.


----------



## ruinexplorer

I have also submitted a letter to the editor for Technologies for Worship Magazine. Hopefully this will get some more recognition, especially on how to do this right. Maybe we should send requests to rock climbing magazines as well?

I was perusing this  article  where the coroner deems this an accident. What I hope the prosecuters do, that the coroner neglected to do, is to question members of the theatrical and circus community that are responsible for this type of stunt. The coroner only interviewed rock climbing experts. Why would they be the only experts interviewed since she was not rock climbing? If there was more of an investigation done, there would be more evidence of negligence.


----------



## gafftaper

I just sent a message to the Cincinati Enquirer's tip line. I Encouraged them to investigate the story and contact Sapsis, Foy, or ZFX for some real rigging advice. 

I've also posted in some of the followup blogs related to the stories on websites. 

Anyone else for a little internet activism?


----------



## rochem

Got the PLSN Newsletter email today and saw that there was a brief article on this accident:


> Aerialist Dies From Fall in Christmas Show
> 
> CINCINNATI — Student performer Keri Shryock, 23, died from injuries related to a fall during a Christmas show at a church Dec. 17. She was suspended from a cable, acting the part of a Wise Man in a contemporary Nativity story at Crossroads Community Church in Oakley, Ohio when her harness opened. She fell more than 20 feet and succumbed to her injuries the next day.
> 
> The police, who had reviewed video footage taken during the event, have ruled Shryock’s death an accident. O’Dell Owens, Hamilton County Coroner, told news sources that fabric from Shryock’s gown got caught in the clasp of the harness, causing it to open when Shryock extended her arm.
> 
> The production involved 200 performers before an audience of close to 2,000 people. Prayer services were held in place of the scheduled show the following night. The church also took efforts to console those affected by the tragedy with additional services and grief counseling.
> 
> Because Shryock was performing as a volunteer, and not as a paid employee, no other government agency will investigate the reason for the fall. “It’s totally a civil matter,” said Dick Gilgrist, a director for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, according to press reports.
> 
> Shryock, from Sylvania, Ohio, was a student at Xavier University.




I'm somewhat surprised that an industry source such as PLSN is not approaching this from a similar angle as we all are. They don't even mention the fact that her harness was only for climbing, or that she was suspended over the audience. I would have expected that an industry source like PLSN would have been a little tougher on the church, noting that they were using an unsafe harness and did not have a professional flying company working the show. Odd...

Aerialist Dies From Fall in Christmas Show - PLSN


----------



## gafftaper

rochem said:


> Got the PLSN Newsletter email today and saw that there was a brief article on this accident...
> I'm somewhat surprised that an industry source such as PLSN is not approaching this from a similar angle as we all are. They don't even mention the fact that her harness was only for climbing, or that she was suspended over the audience. I would have expected that an industry source like PLSN would have been a little tougher on the church, noting that they were using an unsafe harness and did not have a professional flying company working the show. Odd...



There's a comment box on the e-mail from PLSN. Let them know how you feel. I did.


----------



## What Rigger?

Gaff- once I get a 2nd free minute this week, I'll be following your lead.

Also, don't everyone get too bent outta shape over flying over the audience. It's common, and when done right, very safe. But there's that ol' caveat again: when done right.

I've personally done 4 angels at once on automation at 90 feet in a mega-church with an all volunteer cast and crew. What problems we did have were more along the lines of being a nuisance to us, and all the angels were on backup devices as well. This was a 'traditional' vertical flight on wire rope, of course.


----------



## gafftaper

What Rigger? said:


> I've personally done 4 angels at once on automation at 90 feet in a mega-church with an all volunteer cast and crew. What problems we did have were more along the lines of being a nuisance to us, and all the angels were on backup devices as well. This was a 'traditional' vertical flight on wire rope, of course.



Rigger about how much did it cost to hire you (or the company you were working for) to do that flight effect? I'm going to guess $5,000-$10,000 based on quotes I've heard for doing a run of Peter Pan. 

The church where this young woman died has 3,500 seats. It's been reported that there were about 2,500 in attendance the night of the tragedy. If we go with my guess on pricing for hiring a pro to do this safely, they could have covered the entire cost with a charge of only $2-$4 per person on opening night. According to the news articles, in 2007 over 20,000 attended this church's Christmas show and they were expecting more this year. That brings the cost of doing the stunt safely down to around $0.25-$0.50 per person, per performance.


----------



## What Rigger?

Well, I was never privy to how much it cost to hire the company I was then working for (a three lettered named company which shall remain nameless), but I know it was over 10 G's. But for that you got: me, my boss, and one or two other guys (depending on workload) to install the gear, fly the truss, and train the volunteers. We had an over 90% return rate on our crew and cast, year to year. AKA: most everyone had some familiarity with the rig already, and new people were never put into sensitive positions. But like the post from Derek of Uncle Bill's thoughts on stupid flying shows, in some places the going rate for human safety is far below $10,000. Insurance- aka Professional Riggers specializing in human flight- is CHEAP compared to lawsuits.

Once everything was up and running, I stayed for the entire 21 or so days for tech week and performances. We also had dedicated flying rehearsal time- an absolute MUST- with nobody else in the sanctuary. This meant no distractions, no lapses in concentration and everything we did had to pass through me for the final "Go/No go" call.

Every year we returned, there were always additional safety procedures implemented- this was a year round thing in our heads and we never stopped figuring out how to make it better looking, and safer. ALL gear was purpose built for it's intended use AND the design had been tested to destruction prior to being used. (God, I can't tell you how fun it is to pull-test Petzl gear, or wreck a truss on purpose!).

This particular gig played in a sanctuary that housed 10,000 seats. The show ran 6 nights a week for two weeks. No admission charge. The church has a congregation of over 20,000 and their fundraising annually is IMMENSE. I mean in the multi-millions of dollars. Paying for me was chump change. But the most important thing was that the church wanted it done right, and wanted everyone safe and DID THEIR RESEARCH. It's easy to hire guys like me. It's also just as easy, sadly, to not. Some people just don't realize how much they DON'T know. In hindsight, we've all been there.

Or as I always tell nervous parents when I show up to do Pan or Oz or whatever: "I don't care how good or how horrible you look in the air. It's not really my job to make you pretty, although I will help you with that. My real job is to send you home every night in the same condition you showed up in."

And for me, that has made all the difference.



PS: If this turned into yet another rant, somebody holla back at me.


----------



## lieperjp

What Rigger? said:


> Or as I always tell nervous parents when I show up to do Pan or Oz or whatever: "I don't care how good or how horrible you look in the air. It's not really my job to make you pretty, although I will help you with that. My real job is to send you home every night in the same condition you showed up in."
> 
> PS: If this turned into yet another rant, somebody holla back at me.



If it was a rant... it was a great rant. That last paragraph is a great quote.


----------



## waynehoskins

lieperjp said:


> If it was a rant... it was a great rant. That last paragraph is a great quote.



Absolutely. I wish (and this is coming from a church guy) that churches paid attention to that stuff more. 32 feet-per-second per second works equally well and predictably whether you're in a theatre, a church, a skyscraper, or in the park under an apple tree.


----------



## Les

A few years ago I did some work for a new high school with their lighting design for Wizard of Oz. Since they were a new school, they had a "greener" set of crew members, hence the need for outside help. Luckily they were smart enough to hire in 'said three letter named company'. On the beginning of tech week, the flying technician came in, did the rigging, and gave us a quick workshop as to how everything went together. I guess the school didn't have a huge budget, so they went with a more intermediate package - where they send out one tech, who sets things up (with students acting as assistants). Then the tech trains the operators and the fliers and stays 'till opening night then flies back to Vegas. When the show is over, the school takes down the system, packs it up and ships it in its roadcase back to the fly company. 
Since I was over 18 (and the only one over 18 other than directors since this school did not yet have a senior class) I was to be one of the fly guys and was trained specifically to monitor all flying operations. I was put in to the position of the more sensitive aspect, which was the actual lifting. A student technician was allowed to control the horizontal movement. 
The amount of instruction we received was great, and whatrigger? is right, we had several "dry techs" where we ran only the fly stunts with no one else on stage. All in all, the only thing that ever made us uncomfortable was possibly missing a cue, or in one night's case, being able to tell where to land the flying monkeys through the dense cloud of fog. 

This was my second experience with this company, as the first was when I was in high school and we took on Peter Pan. 

I find it interesting how eye opening tragedies can be. Don't get me wrong, I always cringed at the thought of someone being flown unprofessionally, but about three years ago a school in my area put on A Year With Frog And Toad (I designed lights), and in the opening scene they lowered the birds down to the stage on swings... (what they did was used 1/8" aircraft cables threaded and clamped through each end of a 2' 2x6. They then raised the birds about 10-15' in the air (behind the grand drape) and lowered them as the curtain opened. When I saw the show I didn't think much of it, but now I am more aware of how potentially dangerous this simple, 1 minute effect could have been.

How many times have you watched an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos and seen some poor kid swaying out of control on some cable/pulley system for some recital? I have seen it several times and it really makes me sick.


----------



## gafftaper

Well it sounds like people are asking the right questions at last. Check out this video.


----------



## jwl868

gafftaper said:


> Well it sounds like people are asking the right questions at last. Check out this video.




I don't think that it's that new. From what I can tell (and from the context of the statements being made), this clip is from December 19th.

Joe


----------



## gafftaper

jwl868 said:


> I don't think that it's that new. From what I can tell (and from the context of the statements being made), this clip is from December 19th.
> 
> Joe



Yes it is a little old, but none of the other stories posted in this thread have included this information. All the other stories mention the rock climbing harness in passing, as if it was acceptable equipment to use in the stunt. The main question in the other articles was, "How did the rock climbing harness fail to hold her?" Anyone with a little knowledge in this area will tell you the answer to that question is, "because it's not an acceptable harness for this particular use". This story is finally going down the correct path of questioning and asking, "Why was she wearing a rock climbing harness in the first place?"


----------



## rochem

Finally, the right things are starting to happen.

I got the Stage Directions newsletter this morning, and the first thing I did was to look for an article on this incident. And I found it. They actually contacted Bill Sapsis of Sapsis Rigging to get his opinion. This is a fairly old article, written on December 22, but it seems to be the first source that really questioned how this was allowed to happen.


> Aerialist Dies From Fall in Christmas Show
> 
> CINCINNATI — Student performer Keri Shryock, 23, died from injuries relating to a fall of more than 20 feet that occurred during a Christmas ceremony at a Cincinnati church Wednesday, Dec. 17. She was performing an aerial act as a Wise Man in the Crossroads Community Church’s Christmas pageant when her harness failed and she fell to the concrete floor, head first. The police have ruled that the death was accidental.
> O’Dell Owens, Hamilton County Coroner, told news sources that fabric from Shryock’s gown got caught in the clasp of the harness, causing it to open when Shryock extended her arm.
> 
> The Associated Press is reporting that the church states that Shryock and the other performers had professional training and wore safety equipment, but no details were available on their training. Shryock was studying at Xavier University.
> 
> Further, the Associated Press relates that because she was performing as a volunteer, and not as a paid employee, no other government agency will investigate the reason for the fall.
> 
> “It’s totally a civil matter,” said Dick Gilgrist, a director for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
> 
> SD contacted Bill Sapsis, of Sapsis Rigging to give some advice to help other organizations avoid such a senseless tragedy.
> 
> “The first thing that people really need to understand is that amateur organizations like this have their own limitations. They don’t have the experience to put on these things completely by themselves,” said Sapsis. “If you’re going to attempt to do something like this where you’re putting people in the air, then you have to take the step to find people who do this for a living.”
> 
> Sapsis recommended people call multiple flying/rigging organizations, describe what your organization intends to do, and then ask: Is that OK? Does that make sense? Is there a better way? Calling multiple aerialist/rigging companies is “absolutely key” according to Sapsis.
> 
> “I’m thinking of a peer-review kind of situation,” said Sapsis. “They shouldn’t just go to the first aerialist rigger-guy they find in the phone book, but to two, three or four different people, provide them with the same information and see what kind of consensus these people bring out.”



You can find the article here.


----------



## jwl868

Although I agree with the cost analysis, cost isn’t always the driving force. All it takes to get started is for someone to say: “Let’s do X”. And someone else saying “I’ve done something like that”. What is often missing is someone asking questions like “How can that be safe?” or “How do they do that in the professional shows?” But even with a “voice of reason”, there’s strength of personalities to consider. Or it’s just plain hubris – professionals are not consulted because of a “we can do this ourselves” attitude. I can easily imagine conversations that led to this death. But I still can’t over the number of people who would have had to have “signed off” on it or otherwise bought into it.

**

I have my doubts that criminal charges will be filed. I would expect that there would be too many individuals involved as defendants (conspiracy?) and then I am sure that they are all good, well-meaning Christians [at least that’s what would be sold to a jury]. The prosecutor still has to consider the chances of winning. There could be a civil suit against the church and/or individuals, but that could end quietly, maybe never reaching trial, and with an agreement such that neither side discusses the verdict. The story could easily disappear from the news in a very short period of time.

**

One thing I’m curious about: did anyone see this story in their local news or newspapers? The link in the original post has an Associated Press byline. Everything I read was through links on this board. Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see it in the paper here or on the news on TV (although I only watch 2 of the stations.)


Joe


----------



## gafftaper

Yeah I think the big question regarding charges is if someone claimed to be an expert and set this all up without really knowing what they were doing. If it was simply a matter of her and a couple other people saying, "I'm a rock climber I know how to do this." There may not be any charges. 

The video link I last posted mentions that she was a rock climber and had some experience teaching some sort of ropes course. Now exactly what that means we don't know, but it certainly suggests that she may have done a lot of this on her own relying on her climbing experience.

I never saw this mentioned here in Seattle, however if you google it you'll find the story ran all over the country.


----------



## derekleffew

Some relatives recently attended this year's pageant at the church in question. I'm pleased to report there was no flying of performers (and apparently hasn't been since 2008).


----------



## len

Two things that are said too often:

before the accident: "We've never had a problem before."

after the accident: "There's a first time for everything."

And the worst part is, people keep getting injured or worse. Laws won't stop people from not using common sense and following instructions.


----------



## DrPinto

I don't even like the idea of flying actors. I think it upstages the acting. Keep the actors on the stage. They're less likely to get hurt or look bad if something goes wonky...


----------

