Designer of Schlitterbahn water slide that decapitated boy, 10, arrested at DFW Airport

The designer of a Schlitterbahn water slide that caused the decapitation death of a 10-year-old boy in 2016 was in the Dallas County Jail Tuesday after his arrest at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

John Schooley, 72, was arrested by the U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force on Monday night after he arrived on a flight from China.

Schooley is being held in the Dallas County Jail without bond facing charges of second-degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated endangering of a child, jail records show. He will be held pending arraignment and transfer to Kansas City.

Caleb Schwab was killed and two women seriously injured on Aug. 7, 2016, while riding the 17-story-high Verruckt — the German word for insane — water slide at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas.

According to an indictment in the case, the incident occurred when the trio's raft went airborne, colliding with overhead hoops and netting affixed to the water slide.

A video recording showed Caleb was following all rider instructions when the incident occurred, the indictment states.

Kansas City police, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Kansas Attorney General's Office began investigating after whistle-blowers from Schlitterbahn's own ranks reported that similar incidents had been covered up in the past.

'Unjustifiable risk of death'

Amusement ride design and safety experts who examined the water slide found physical evidence that other rafts had gone airborne, colliding with the overhead hoops and netting, and that the slide complied with few, if any, of the industry safety standards.

The indictment accuses the water slide's designers and operators of knowing that the ride posed a "substantial and unjustifiable risk of death or severe bodily harm."

The indictment also accused those responsible for the ride's operation of attempting to conceal evidence from law enforcement, delaying the investigation.

Also indicted in the case on multiple criminal charges is former park operations director Tyler Austin Miles and a co-owner of the Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts, Jeffrey Wayne Henry.

Henry was arrested last week in Cameron County, Texas.

'Terrible and tragic accident'

The Verruckt slide, which has been closed down, was certified by Guinness World Records in 2014 as the tallest water slide in the world. In the indictment, prosecutors allege Henry hatched the plan to build the water slide in an effort to impress producers of the Travel Channel's "Xtreme Waterparks" series.

Prosecutors allege Schooley and Henry did not possess any kind of technical or engineering credentials relevant to amusement ride design and safety. Instead, the indictment states, the two men rushed through the design process, relying on crude trial and error methods in lieu of mathematical and physics calculations.

Schlitterbahn has disputed the allegations.

"The incident that happened that day was a terrible and tragic accident. We mourn the loss of this child and are devastated for his family. We know that Tyler, Jeff, and John are innocent and that we run a safe operation – our 40 years of entertaining millions of people speaks to that," the company said in a statement after the indictments were made public. "We are confident that their innocence will be proven in court where we know the facts will show this was an accident."

Caleb was the son of a Kansas legislator.

This story was originally published April 3, 2018 at 10:48 AM with the headline "Designer of Schlitterbahn water slide that decapitated boy, 10, arrested at DFW Airport."