Local boy injured in roller coaster mishap

A Weaverville boy was seriously injured last week when a cable snapped as he took a roller coaster ride with his father at Knott's Berry Farm in Southern California.

Kyle Wheeler, 12, and his father, Russell Wheeler, were on the first car on the Xcelerator when the incident occurred Sept. 16. Shortly after the ride began, as the cars were climbing a cable snapped, striking the car they were in and Kyle's left calf.

From the perspective of Kyle's mother, Anita Wheeler, who was watching from the ground with her parents, it appeared as if the car exploded.

"I thought I was watching my son and husband die," she said.

Kyle suffered severe lacerations and muscle damage to his calf.

He was seen in three hospitals by five surgeons and had one surgery. He is home now, but the extent of the damage is not known yet. He is to be seen next week at Children's Hospital in Oakland.

"Kyle's in pain and I have a hospital bed and wheelchair and we're just hanging out to get better," Anita Wheeler said Tuesday.

"Our lives have been changed forever," she said. "We're just traumatized."

Knott's Berry officials have told the Orange County Register that the cable in question was last replaced in December. The ride is closed until an investigation determines what caused the cable to fail.