Ferris-wheel victim's kin demands lap restraints

The rules to ride the Giant Wheel at Morey's Piers in Wildwood will be strengthened when it resumes spinning today, but the changes aren't enough for the family of the 11-year-old girl who died in a fall from the Ferris wheel two weeks ago.

Lawyers for the family of Abiah Jones said that the ride should not be used until it can be retrofitted with lap restraints in each car.

"Otherwise, what happened to Abiah Jones could happen again," said attorneys for the D'Amato Law Firm and Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett & Bendesky, two firms that represent the girl's family.

The fifth-grader at PleasanTech Academy Charter School, of Pleasantville, N.J., was on a class trip to Morey's Piers when she fell from the 156-foot-high ride on June 3.

Lindsey Young, a spokeswoman for Morey's Piers, said the Giant Wheel is being reopened today with additional safety precautions, including a requirement of at least two riders in each gondola.

That requirement, which the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs recommended earlier this week, will apply to all patrons, including adults, Young said.

Also, Morey's Piers said in a statement that the company will "increase its prior minimum requirement to ride without an adult from the now state-required 54 inches to a new minimum height of 60 inches."

"We certainly appreciate that they have taken some steps toward preventing another tragic accident like this," said Larry Bendesky, one of the attorneys for the girl's family. "But they haven't done the most important thing to prevent this from happening again, and that is [installing] lap restraints."

As for media reports that witnesses said Abiah Jones was seen kneeling or standing while alone in her seat, or leaning out of the side, Bendesky said, "No one has come forward to say exactly how Abiah fell out of the gondola.

"We've requested the videotape from Morey's," he said. "For anyone to say she fell out because she was kneeling or standing at this point is pure speculation."