Schlitterbahn workers charged in water slide death

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KSHB) – Two Schlitterbahn maintenance workers have been indicted in connection with the 2016 death of 10-year-old Caleb Schwab, who died while riding the Verrückt water slide.

David Hughes, a maintenance supervisor, and John Zalsman, a maintenance employee are each charged with a single count of interference with law enforcement-obstruction official duty.

Zalsman and Hughes are charged along with Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry, Verrückt co-designer John Schooley and park manager Tyler Miles.

In their first court appearance, both Hughes and Zalsman entered not guilty pleas. Both men are free after posting $10,000 bonds each.

Court records state Hughes, Zalsman and another Schlitterbahn employee, Willard Kampmeier, were responsible for the Verrückt water slide’s construction, repair and maintenance.

Specifically, court records said investigators wanted to know why one of three brake mats on the slide, the one on hill two, had not been repaired after it fell off July 28, 2016.