State regulators have banned the Gravitron from fairs and carnivals across Florida until they can determine what caused the machine at the Miami-Dade County Fair to break apart last weekend and eject three riders.
The only Gravitron operating in the state this week, at the Clay County Fair, was shut down on Monday, said Paul Driggers, assistant director of the division of standards for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the agency responsible for inspecting fair rides.
No other Gravitron - or Starship 2000, Starship 3000 and Starship Enterprise, which are the same type of ride made by the same manufacturer - will be allowed to open until the investigation into Friday's accident is complete, Driggers told the Herald Tuesday.
``It is standard procedure for us, when we have a major accident, that we do not allow similar rides to operate until the cause is determined,'' Driggers said.
That decision came days after a malfunction on the Miami-Dade County Fair ride caused three people to be thrown from the ride. The parents of one of them, Jessica Riobe, 16, who remained in critical condition Tuesday afternoon at Jackson Memorial Hospital, will file a negligence suit today, their attorney said.
Meanwhile, state investigators and Miami-Dade Police continued their examination of the ride Tuesday and said their inquiry will address not only what what wrong mechanically, but also who is to blame.
``We need to find out what exactly went wrong and were the responsibility lies,'' said Terence McElroy, a spokesman for the Agriculture Department in Tallahassee.
`SEVERAL MORE DAYS'
``It will take several more days, at least, before our experts, our engineer and our fair ride inspectors are able to determine to their satisfaction what the cause is and if anybody contributed to it,'' McElroy said.
The focus of the investigation by Miami-Dade Police and state investigators so far is a bolt that seems to have sheared off, causing the panel to vibrate and then crack open.
McElroy said part of the inquiry would be devoted to whether someone noticed ``there was a problem and that it could have been avoided.''
The criminal charge that likely would be filed if someone was at fault is culpable negligence, said Nelda Fonticiella, a Miami-Dade Police spokeswoman Nelda Fonticiella.
``It could be the people who put it together, if they didn't follow orders, or the people who wrote the orders or the person who inspected that ride. It all depends on the outcome of the investigation,'' Fonticiella said.
A spokeswoman for attorney Stuart Grossman said he would file a negligence lawsuit against the Conklin Shows, the owners and operators of the machine, as well as the Miami-Dade Fair and Exposition Inc., the corporation that puts on the in Miami-Dade court today on behalf of Jessica, an 11th-grader at Southridge High.
``Words cannot express what I feel inside,'' the girl's mother, Marlene Riobe, told WCBS-Channel 4 news reporter Shomari Stone . ``We put our trust in the Lord and place Jessica most importantly in his care.''
OTHERS IN HOSPITAL
Two others injured in the accident Friday night remained hospitalized at Jackson Memorial Tuesday.
Shazam Searam, 16, is in good condition, said Lorraine Nelson, a hospital spokeswoman, who released the information with the permission of the boy's family.
Yudelka Ozuna, 20, was also in the hospital's intensive care unit, but citing privacy laws, Nelson said she could not cite her condition.
The state hired a private engineer - George Bryant Buchner of the Tallahassee-based Quest Engineering & Failure Analysis Inc. - to review the ride and its equipment, said Det. Juan DelCastillo, a police spokesman.
UM PROFESSORS
Two experienced engineering professors from the University of Miami - Ronald Zollo and Carol Hays - have also been called upon as experts, DelCastillo said.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission - which has monitored the Gravitron since a similar accident in Missouri in 1991 left a 12-year-old girl partially deaf - also had an investigator on the scene, DelCastillo said.
The Herald's television news partner (Shomari Stone) WFOR-CBS 4 contributed to this report.
Copyright (c) 2005 The Miami Herald
shomaristone.com 
STATE HALTS USE OF RIDE
STATE HALTS USE OF THRILL RIDE
The Miami Herald - April 7, 2004
Author: ELAINE DE VALLE
Shomari Stone , a reporter with Herald news partner WFOR-CBS4, contributed to this report.
Shomari Stone , a reporter with Herald news partner WFOR-CBS4, contributed to this report.