Here is an excerpt from the July 20 Chicago Tribune, about an accident at SFGA. (The whole article was way too long to send unedited---if you want more information, go to the Tribune's site.)
While this was a bad thing to happen to these girls, the first reports on Chicago television were nothing more than wild speculation. One channel even sent a helicopter the scene ("Hey! This is more fun than describing traffic conditions!"), and "first reports" said two people were critically injured---as if they could see that from the helicopter!
Here's part of the story:
Two girls on the spinning Cajun Cliffhanger ride at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee were injured Wednesday afternoon when the floor of the ride was raised too soon, trapping their feet between the edge of the floor and the wall.
Centrifugal force keeps patrons glued against the wall even after the raised floor is dropped in the fast-spinning cylinder. As the spinning slows, riders slip to the ground, then exit the ride after it has stopped moving.
But on Wednesday, after the ride slowed down, it sped up again, said John Konstantaras, a Chicago resident who was at the park with his two children. Then, the floor was raised while the ride was still spinning. Konstantaras' daughter and another girl, identified only as a 13-year-old from Chicago, each got a foot caught between the wall and the floor, he said.
[NOTE: Apparently, both suffered broken or crushed bones.]