Amended Tanganyika park lawsuit now names 47 people who became ‘violently ill’
An amended lawsuit filed Friday against Tanganyika Wildlife Park now names 47 people.
On June 20, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said it began an investigation on June 18 into a “diarrheal illness” linked to several people who visited the Tanganyika’s Splash Park.
Sandwiched between those days, the Goddard park announced on Facebook that it was closing its splash park because of a filtration system problem and that they are “working diligently to remedy the issue.”
The Facebook post was met with a barrage of comments that blamed the park’s splash pad for their family being sick and even hospitalized.
A few days after the splash park closed, a lawsuit on behalf of Elena Davis and her three children — one was reportedly hospitalized — was filed by Patterson Legal Group. The next day the KDHE reported that three people who visited the park tested positive for Shigella, a bacteria spread from person-to-person through exposure to contaminated feces.
A medical study found that people who had Shigella are more likely to have irritable bowel syndrome later in life.
The lawsuit now involves 47 people. Among them are people from Missouri, Washington and Alabama.
The lawsuit says the people became “violently ill and suffered repeated bouts of vomiting, diarrhea, headaches and fever and other symptoms due to the negligence and/or carelessness” of the park.
An official from the park did not immediately respond to questions from The Eagle.
The lawsuit says people who fell sick visited the splash park, which opened at the end of the 2020 summer, after May 28. They were “injured and suffered illnesses included but not limited to Shigella, norovirus, e. coli, bacterial bronchitis, bacterial pneumonia, and other illnesses related to fecal matter ingested,” the lawsuit says.
“Businesses have a responsibility to the public to ensure that properties operate in a safe manner,” Coleman Younger, an attorney with Patterson Legal Group, said in a news release. “The situation continues to escalate for all involved, especially for the families and friends of children who fell seriously ill and are still recovering under the supervision of their medical providers at our local hospitals.”
The lawsuit seeks an amount in excess of $75,000.
This story was originally published July 2, 2021 at 2:51 PM with the headline "Amended Tanganyika park lawsuit now names 47 people who became ‘violently ill’."