Mom shocked by no safety inspections after 8-year-old’s leg snaps at Fort Worth trampoline park
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Jump at your own risk
A Fort Worth Star-Telegram investigation looks at the consequences of Texas’ lack of regulations for trampoline parks.
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Beverly Reed of Irving knew something went terribly wrong when she heard her son scream out in pain.
Micah, 8, had just jumped from a 10-foot ledge onto a giant inflatable bag at a trampoline park in Tarrant County. It’s a common attraction at many trampoline parks and is often referred to as “the blob,” similar to large inflatable bags to jump on at lakes.
When Micah landed, his left tibia snapped near his ankle. Reed, who was not watching but was standing nearby, immediately ran to her son.
“I jumped into this inflatable pit and I noticed it wasn’t very inflated,” Reed said. “I very much dropped down and I struggled to get to my son.”
Reed drove Micah to the hospital, where his entire leg was put into a red cast. A nurse told them Micah wasn’t first trampoline park patient that day in early February.
Like many Texan parents, Reed didn’t know that trampoline parks are unregulated. There are no safety inspections and no requirements for the businesses to carry insurance.
“I didn’t realized that trampoline parks have no regulations and no safety protocols that they have to follow,” she said. “If I would have known all of these things, I wouldn’t have taken him to start with.”
A Fort Worth Star-Telegram investigation into North Texas trampoline parks found nearly 500 reports of injuries at 21 parks, two of which are now closed. These injuries were serious enough to call for emergency medical treatment, but the true number of injured children or adults, including cases where someone was driven to a doctor or hospital, is likely higher.
Yet unlike 11 other states, Texas has no laws that require basic safety precautions. State regulators do not track injuries at trampoline parks, either.
The trampoline park industry sets its own safety guidelines through its trade association. Nothing in Texas requires any of the parks here to follow those guidelines or report injuries or deaths.
The Star-Telegram investigation shocked state Rep. Chris Turner, a Democrat who represents Arlington and Grand Prairie.
“The fact that a business like this, where children can be injured, is not carrying some kind of liability insurance was surprising,” he said.
Turner said the Texas legislature needs to look into the issue.
“I certainly want to do more research on it and evaluate options ahead of the next session next January,” he said, adding that he plans to speak with the House licensing and registration committee as well as the insurance committee.
Reed said that she believes if regular inspections had to be done at parks, her son might have not broken his leg. The blob, she said, appeared to not have enough air in it. She called the park repeatedly after the accident to ask that they shut the attraction down.
“I kept calling because Micah didn’t do anything wrong and I was concerned there was some kind of malfunction,” she said. “A week ago they finally called me back and they said there was some maintenance being done on it.”
Reed didn’t know the extent of the maintenance.
She was also frustrated by a park employee’s reaction to the injury. When her son was hurt, no one came to help her get to Micah. And when he was finally taken off of the blob, she said, no one had called 911 yet. She had to ask, and then decided to drive him herself to a hospital.
The park did not return the newspaper’s request for comment.
This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 11:58 AM.
