Good Samaritans catch teen after fall from amusement park ride

QUEENSBURY, New York -- A teenager was caught after falling about 25 feet from a chair ride Saturday night at an amusement park in upstate New York.

She tumbled into a crowd of park guests and employees gathered below to catch her before she hit the ground.

The 14-year-old girl was hanging from the chair on the Sky Ride at Six Flags Great Escape in the Lake George area.

Good Samaritans were standing by and coaching her on, telling her to let go.

She finally dropped and they were right there to catch her fall.

A man who was on the ride at the time watched it all unfold.

"You don't know what to do. I mean you know you understand that you know somebody falling from 35 feet in the air could cause damage to you or whoever you're catching her with, but it's better off to suffer a minor injury to save someone from a serious injury and that's what those guys ultimately did," Loren Lent said.

Authorities say the girl fell from the car and struck a tree before landing in the crowd. She was treated by park emergency medical staff and taken by ambulance to Glen Falls Hospital before being transferred by helicopter to the medical center.

She is in stable condition with no serious injuries.

Sheriff's investigators assisted by park personnel inspected the ride and the car the victim was riding in, and found that everything was in proper working order and all safety equipment was intact and operational at the time of the incident.

Authorities also said an unidentified 47-year-old man from Schenectady, New York, who was a guest at the park, was treated and released from a hospital for a back injury sustained when he attempted to catch the falling girl.

The Sky Ride has been cleared operation by the New York State Department of Labor, however it will remain closed while the park does an internal review.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)