No criminal charges in fatal Ohio State Fair ride accident

COLUMBUS — No one will face criminal charges after a ride at the Ohio State Fair broke apart in July, killing one man and injuring seven people.

Four of those people originally weren't planning to ride in the gondola that broke off the Fire Ball ride on the opening day of the state fair, according to an investigation from state police released Thursday. The ride operator, Cesar Martinez, switched them into their ill-fated seats from a different gondola. "One of the riders was a little overweight and was slouching, and the safety harness wouldn’t secure," state police said, after interviewing Martinez. 

Those four people included 18-year-old Tyler Jarrell, the U.S. Marines recruit who died in the accident, and his girlfriend, University of Cincinnati student Keziah Lewis, who was badly injured. The two were thrown from the ride when their gondola ripped off, while their other two companions were trapped in the wreckage and had to be extricated.

Another person — the sister of a midway employee who was helping with the ride — was originally to be in the ill-fated car. She was "too scared" to stay on the Fire Ball thrill ride. "Man, she was suppose (sic) to be on that car. She would have been dead right now," midway employee Duwan Dowdy told a trooper.

The investigation failed to come to major conclusions about the cause of the ride's breaking apart. Officers reviewed a photo shot by a bystander before the accident, saying it appeared to show a crack running across the back of the gondola, in the same area where the ride later broke apart. Ride operators and inspectors shown the photo said they had not noticed the crack.

Inspectors from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found "a good amount of rust and corrosion" inside the swinging arm that held the gondola that broke off the ride, the report said. 

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien reviewed the investigation and concluded the case lacked enough evidence for criminal charges, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said Thursday in a statement. Jarrell's family has hired a law firm to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit.