Girl Whose Feet Were Severed on Kentucky Amusement Park Ride Has Right Foot Reattached

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The right foot of a 13-year-old girl involved in a gruesome amusement park accident has been reattached, but her left foot was too severely damaged to repair, her family said in a statement Tuesday.

Kaitlyn Lasitter of Louisville remained in stable condition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., Dr. Douglas Weikert, a surgeon and assistant professor at Vanderbilt, said in the statement.

"Things are progressing as expected over this first ten days," he said.

Lasitter's feet were severed just above the ankles as she rode the Superman Tower of Power thrill ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom on June 21.

WLKY-TV in Louisville first reported the latest statement.

Investigators with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture said they've taken possession of a cable they believe broke and severed Lasitter's feet, Wilbur Frye, executive director of the department's Office of Consumer and Environmental Protection, has said. The investigation will continue for several more weeks, Frye said.

Lasitter's mother, Monique Lasitter, thanked the doctors, nurses and hospital staff for their work.

"We would not want her to be at any other hospital during this difficult time," the statement said.

The state has been trying to determine what caused the cable to break. Department investigators were taking written statements from witnesses, reviewing statements and analyzing physical evidence and photographs of the scene, Frye said.

The ride was last inspected April 5 and found to be operating normally, Frye said. The ride passed inspection in each of the last four years, according to records.

The ride lifts passengers 177 feet straight up, then drops them nearly the same distance at speeds reaching 54 miles per hour.

Six Flags shut down similar rides at parks in St. Louis; Gurnee, Ill.; and near Washington as a safety precaution, said Wendy Goldberg, a spokeswoman for Six Flags.