Wyandanch woman sues school district, rental company over son's injuries in inflatable slide collapse
The scene of the inflatable slide collapse in Wyandach, on June 14, 2022. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
The mother of a now 8-year-old boy, who was severely injured last summer when an inflatable slide tipped over during Lafrancis Hardiman Elementary School's field day in Wyandanch, has filed suit against two of the district's Parent Teacher Associations, according to court papers.
Karen Maldonado of Wyandanch, the child's mother, filed a civil suit in November against the Wyandanch School District and Jump Around Party Rentals, the Huntington Station company that installed the slide, which toppled over in Wyandanch Park last June with 14 children on it.
The latest suit, filed Friday in Suffolk Supreme Court, cites the "negligence and carelessness" of the PTAs of Martin Luther King Jr. and Lafrancis Hardiman elementary schools, along with the group's president, Laure Jackson of Wyandanch. The two PTAs sponsored the field day and hired the party rental company to erect the inflatable bouncy slide, records show.
"The bounce house wasn't secured properly and the wind took it and threw a number of kids off of it at a very, very high distance from the ground," said Anthony LaPinta, Maldonado's Hauppauge-based attorney. "They were thrown off of it from the wind. The whole bounce castle got disengaged and was basically fluttering in the wind."
Maldonado declined an interview request, her attorneys said.
The child, who was 7 at the time of the incident and who was not identified in the suit, was climbing up the ladder of the inflatable slide when the connected bounce house went airborne, ejecting the child and sending him "violently" to the ground, court papers say. The boy sustained a fractured hip and femur and a concussion requiring a number of surgeries, LaPinta said.
The boy, he said, appears to be the only child to have sustained serious injuries during the incident, although police said at the time that four other students from Lafrancis Hardiman Elementary School were hospitalized with minor injuries.
"Some or all of the … plaintiff's injuries are permanent in nature," the lawsuit says.
Messages left with Jackson and the two respective PTAs were not returned.
Attorneys for Maldonado said they expect this suit and the one previously filed to eventually merge.
School District Superintendent Gina Talbert declined to comment Monday, citing the ongoing litigation. Jump Around Party Rentals did not respond to a request for comment.
The June 14 incident happened when "one of the inflatable slides deflated while students were on the slide," Talbert said in a statement shortly after the accident.
Surveillance video — provided by Rich Schaffer, supervisor of Babylon Town, which runs the park — shows the multicolored slide tipping over, sending children scurrying and adults running toward the slide.
Police officials said the 14 children on the slide at the time of the accident were ages 6 and 7. The field day was attended by students in the third to sixth grades, officials said.
Schaffer said the school had gotten a permit from the town to use the park for the field day.
The mother of a now 8-year-old boy, who was severely injured last summer when an inflatable slide tipped over during Lafrancis Hardiman Elementary School's field day in Wyandanch, has filed suit against two of the district's Parent Teacher Associations, according to court papers.
Karen Maldonado of Wyandanch, the child's mother, filed a civil suit in November against the Wyandanch School District and Jump Around Party Rentals, the Huntington Station company that installed the slide, which toppled over in Wyandanch Park last June with 14 children on it.
The latest suit, filed Friday in Suffolk Supreme Court, cites the "negligence and carelessness" of the PTAs of Martin Luther King Jr. and Lafrancis Hardiman elementary schools, along with the group's president, Laure Jackson of Wyandanch. The two PTAs sponsored the field day and hired the party rental company to erect the inflatable bouncy slide, records show.
"The bounce house wasn't secured properly and the wind took it and threw a number of kids off of it at a very, very high distance from the ground," said Anthony LaPinta, Maldonado's Hauppauge-based attorney. "They were thrown off of it from the wind. The whole bounce castle got disengaged and was basically fluttering in the wind."
Maldonado declined an interview request, her attorneys said.
The child, who was 7 at the time of the incident and who was not identified in the suit, was climbing up the ladder of the inflatable slide when the connected bounce house went airborne, ejecting the child and sending him "violently" to the ground, court papers say. The boy sustained a fractured hip and femur and a concussion requiring a number of surgeries, LaPinta said.
The boy, he said, appears to be the only child to have sustained serious injuries during the incident, although police said at the time that four other students from Lafrancis Hardiman Elementary School were hospitalized with minor injuries.
"Some or all of the … plaintiff's injuries are permanent in nature," the lawsuit says.
Messages left with Jackson and the two respective PTAs were not returned.
Attorneys for Maldonado said they expect this suit and the one previously filed to eventually merge.
School District Superintendent Gina Talbert declined to comment Monday, citing the ongoing litigation. Jump Around Party Rentals did not respond to a request for comment.
The June 14 incident happened when "one of the inflatable slides deflated while students were on the slide," Talbert said in a statement shortly after the accident.
Surveillance video — provided by Rich Schaffer, supervisor of Babylon Town, which runs the park — shows the multicolored slide tipping over, sending children scurrying and adults running toward the slide.
Police officials said the 14 children on the slide at the time of the accident were ages 6 and 7. The field day was attended by students in the third to sixth grades, officials said.
Schaffer said the school had gotten a permit from the town to use the park for the field day.
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
