Settlement reached in case involving 11-year-old boy’s death at amusement park

POLK COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG/Gray News) - The family of a boy who drowned at an Iowa amusement park reached a settlement with the former owners.

The trial was scheduled to start on Monday.

Eleven-year-old Michael Jaramillo, of Marion, died in 2021.

He was riding the Raging River ride at Adventureland with his family when the raft tipped over.

According to the lawsuit filed by the family, the ride had a series of defects, including outdated rafts, broken computer systems and modifications made without an engineer.

On Monday, lawyers with the family told the judge that the two sides had reached a settlement. Details of the settlement were not immediately available.

The Jaramillo family had already reached settlements with the ride manufacturers.

Earlier this year, a judge dismissed claims against the state for poor inspections of the ride, citing a law that protects public officials from lawsuits for negligence.

The Jaramillo family attorney released a statement regarding the settlement.

“Almost four years after the family tragedy, on the eve of trial in Polk County, the Jaramillo family reached a confidential settlement with Defendants Adventure Lands of America, Inc. and its CEO Michael Krantz,” the attorney said. “While this portion of their journey is over, it will never bring back their child, Michael Jaramillo. The facts learned over the course of this litigation raise serious concerns regarding the safety and oversight of the amusement park industry as a whole. The Jaramillo family hopes that the industry takes note of this horrifying incident and substantive changes occur to increase the safety of amusement rides both in Iowa and throughout the nation.”

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