Viral video prompts questions from father and local amusement park goers

AMARILLO, TX (KFDA) - A concerned father is speaking out after an incident at a local amusement park.

A dad getting on a roller coaster with his son ended with what he hopes will be a lesson to parents with younger and even older children.

It all came down to size and a seat belt for the Latham family on Friday night. Delbert and his son Kayson were at Wonderland Amusement Park for a school night.

They got on the "Mouse Trap" ride for the second time that night. Delbert says he decided to take a video of the ride for his wife to see them having fun.

It had since gone viral with almost 140,000 views.

It shows what appears to be Kayson slipping from underneath the safety bar. Delbert says the safety belt broke and he grabs Kayson before he falls off.

"As we were going down, it threw him into the bottom of the cart and that's when you see me reach over to grab him and honestly when all of that started to happen, I didn't even realize I was video-ing it anymore," says Latham.

Kayson is okay and the cart was taken out of commission for the night. But Delbert wants to use this experience as an opportunity to ask parents to take caution with rides they allow their children to get on.

"I just posted it on my facebook page hoping that if more awareness was out there, that maybe something else would get done. There's been people posting you should get a lawyer, that sort of thing. I'm not looking to sue them, I don't want money, that's not my intention. I just want it to be safe for people."

Wonderland park released a statement today saying they are extremely concerned to hear about the Latham's experience. They say the ride was actually built without seat belts, but Wonderland added the restraints as an extra safety measure.

The statement goes on to say the park's safety and maintenance team is tasked with conducting daily inspections on every park ride to ensure the safety of park goers.

"Especially if they're not old enough to hold onto the lap bar and support themselves or fit in a safe way, then either a parent needs to be riding with them to make sure they're safe and everything is buckled up. The only way to make sure that your child is safe is if you're there with them to check everything," says Latham.

WONDERLAND AMUSEMENT PARK Official Statement: Wonderland Amusement Park has taken great strides over the past 65 years to ensure the safety of our visitors at all times, therefore we were extremely concerned to hear about the experience of Mr. Latham and his six-year-old son over the weekend. The seatbelt in the last car on the Mouse Trap roller coaster reportedly came loose creating a very scary situation for the family. Mr. Latham immediately informed the ride operator, found a member of management and reached out through a private social media message. We appreciate his diligence in quickly bringing this to our attention. Wonderland immediately reached back out to Mr. Latham the evening it happened and promptly removed the back cart from the ride and ensured all other seatbelts were in proper working order. The Mouse Trap was back in full operation on Saturday. This particular ride was originally built without seatbelts, but Wonderland later added belts as an extra safety measure. The Park's Safety and Maintenance Team is tasked with conducting daily inspections on every Park ride to ensure the safety of Park goers.

Copyright 2016 KFDA.  All rights reserved.