Utah woman sues Mississippi fair over super slide injury

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Utah woman sued Mississippi’s Fair Commission for negligence and emotional anguish, saying she went airborne on a 40-foot (12-meter) super slide and injured her back.

Lindsay Casperson of Kaysville, Utah, filed the lawsuit against the State Fair Commission and North American Midway Entertainment last month in Hinds County court, The Clarion Ledger reported on Saturday.

Casperson said she saw fair workers spraying liquid onto the slide before her ride in 2018, the complaint alleged. Workers should’ve known spraying the slide was hazardous and informed visitors, her complaint argued.

On the slide, riders place their feet into burlap sacks and shoot down a slope. Their bodies can temporarily lift while descending, the newspaper said. Casperson said she was lifted during her ride and had to receive medical treatment in an ambulance nearby. She was taken to a hospital and diagnosed with a bulging disc in her back, she said.

The slide has operated for 30 years at the fairgrounds and is among the event’s most popular rides, the Clarion Ledger reported.

All claims the commission is involved in are reported to the state Tort Claims Board, the Fair Commission director said. The newspaper said it couldn’t reach North American Midway Entertainment for comment.