A jury awarded $550,000 to two teenage girls after an amusement park ride malfunctioned in Oregon and left them hanging upside down for nearly 30 minutes. The verdict, reached 10-2 this week, split the money evenly at $275,000 each in a case against Oaks Park and ride manufacturer Zamperla over the June 14, 2024 malfunction of the AtmosFEAR ride in Portland.
About 30 riders were stranded upside down when the spinning pendulum-style ride became stuck in a vertical position. That’s the basic fact at the center of it all: a machine built for profit locked people in place, and the people below had to wait while the apparatus sorted itself out. Portland Fire & Rescue crews responded and worked with park engineers to manually lower the ride. The riders were brought down safely after roughly 25 minutes and medically evaluated.
Who Had to Wait
The family of one of the teens, identified as Evie, said Thursday that the lawsuit was about accountability. Their statement laid out the failure in plain terms. "We filed this lawsuit to seek accountability and justice," they told FOX 12. "Not only should the ride have never malfunctioned, but the crisis was further exacerbated by the lack of a safety plan at Oaks Park. They did not possess any knowledge of how to fix the ride if it got stuck in the inverted position, and did not have a tool at the park to lower the ride and rescue the riders."
That account puts the hierarchy on display. The riders were trapped. The park didn’t have the knowledge or the tool to get them down. The response depended on outside help, not on any meaningful preparedness from the people running the ride.
The family said the delay got worse because "That required calling a 1-800 number to even know how to fix the ride, then wait for first responders to arrive on scene, and for the first responders to provide the tool. Additionally, Oaks Park evacuated the park without providing traffic control, which delayed first responders from being able to enter the park quickly in an emergency, prolonging suffering."
What the Park Said
Oaks Park responded after the verdict with a statement to FOX 12. "While we agree that the ride should not have become stuck, we are grateful that all of the riders are safe, and this incident is now resolved," the statement read. "Safety is our top priority, and we will continue to work with ride manufacturers and state inspectors to ensure rider safety."
That’s the language of managed reassurance. The park says safety comes first, yet the ride still failed, the riders still hung upside down, and the rescue still depended on firefighters, engineers, and a tool that wasn’t already there. The statement also points toward the usual chain of control: manufacturers, state inspectors, and the park itself, all promising oversight after the fact.
The malfunction happened on the park’s first day of the summer season. Video from the incident showed riders suspended vertically as people gathered below. The image says enough on its own. Ordinary people trapped in a broken machine while the crowd watches from the ground.
Portland Fire & Rescue crews and park engineers eventually lowered the ride manually, and the riders were medically evaluated after being brought down. A spokesperson for Zamperla and Oaks Park did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Accountability After the Fact
The jury’s 10-2 vote awarded $275,000 to each teen, but the money comes after the fact, after the fear, after the delay, after the park’s lack of a safety plan had already put riders in danger. The case against Oaks Park and Zamperla centered on the June 2024 malfunction, and the family’s statement made clear what the legal process was trying to force into the open: who was responsible, who was unprepared, and who had to sit upside down waiting for the system to catch up.
The park says it will keep working with ride manufacturers and state inspectors. The riders had to wait nearly 30 minutes.