GROVES, Texas – A fun day at the pecan festival turned terrifying for a young girl and a carnival worker when a freak gust of wind sent a ride flying.
The 12-year-old girl was just getting into the car of “The Bullet” when the gust blew the car 30 feet into the air. The carnival worker, who was assisting the girl into the ride, hung on to the still open door, Groves City Marshal Norman Reynolds told Storyful.
The photographer said that the car tilted upside down, and the worker struggled to protect the rider. For two to three minutes, the video shows the man’s legs hanging and flailing from the ride, high in the sky, while his coworkers frantically worked free the stuck machinery below. The huge arm of the ride swayed uncontrollably with the effort and the still-blowing wind.
Video shows that initially, not many festival goers noticed. But, by the end of the video, a crowd assembled around the base of the ride.
“Everyone’s got phones out and just waiting,” one person can be heard on the video. “That’s horrible.”
“Is he going to fall?” asked a woman.
Suddenly, the ride releases and the car twists towards the camera while it plunges toward the ground. The worker has his body pressed against the door he managed to close just moments before, securing the girl.
Looking closely, it is hard to tell what the man was gripping, possibly the window grate. As the car swings wildly on the mechanical arm, the man rotates like the hands on a clock before jumping off when the car nears the ground.
Storyful said that no injuries were reported, but the ride remained closed for the remainder of the day.