Kaitlyn Lasitter talks about Six Flags accident

Kaitlyn Lasitter, the 14-year-old whose feet were cut off during an accident on the Superman Tower of Power ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom last June, has provided her account of the events in a court deposition. Kaitlyn said that the ride had moved only 20 feet into the air when it first jolted. Kaitlyn said that cables fell on her and her friends, and wrapped around their necks. Lasitter and others on board the ride yelled for someone to stop the ride, but as it kept rising Kaitlyn and her friends managed to remove the cables from around their necks.

"We were all screaming, and then it kept going up, and we just continually screamed and were yelling at people," Kaitlyn said in her deposition. "I remember smoke and the smell of burning. I felt like I was going to die." The teenage ride operator has testified that she didn't hear anyone screaming to stop the ride, only just the typical yelling from excited riders. Kaitlyn said she remembers something hard hitting her in the head before the ride plunged, and felt "yanked" from her seat before being restrained by her safety belt. "I remember feeling like I was on fire and smelling burning flesh," she said.

Following the accident, Kaitlyn said she "kept screaming out of control and my leg was hurting."
"I remember asking them to let me out," she said. "I just wanted to walk away and go home. I wanted my mom and dad." Lasitter was eventually flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where doctors were able to reattach her right foot; her left leg was amputated just below the knee. Kaitlyn continues to struggle in the aftermath of the accident, with physical, social, and emotional problems. Her legs and back cause continuing pain and discomfort, and she is on many different medications, and also suffers from persistent headaches. Kaitlyn also said boys no longer call her, she is treated differently by her friends and other people make fun of her. "My future has totally changed," she said. "I am missing the important years in a girl's life.... Basically, I don't go just one day without discovering a new problem."