An outraged father has slammed a waterpark for turning his teenage daughter away from a slide because she was five pounds over the weight limit.
Andrew Batton claims his 13-year-old daughter was left in tears after staff at the Raging Rivers Waterpark in Grafton, Illinois, forced her to step onto the weighing scales in front of a crowd.
He told local news outlet KMOV4 that she was the victim of "public humiliation", and that the encounter would leave her in need of "therapy".
Batton and his family headed to the waterpark to try out its newest slide - the Mississippi Monster. However, after queuing for the popular attraction, Batton's 13-year-old daughter was stopped by a ride operator.
"The guy looked at us and my daughter and said, 'You need to step on the scale'," he recalled to KMOV4. "She steps on the scale and she’s 205."
Because the newly opened slide had a weight limit of 200 pounds, the young girl was banned from the attraction. Unsurprisingly, she was mortified - no less so because, according to her father, there were no signs indicating the ride had a weight limit.
Batton described how painful the experience had been for his daughter, saying: "The disappointment that she felt by not being able to ride the brand-new ride was definitely overshadowed by the public humiliation of being asked to step on a scale."
He added that - despite both he and his daughter being season ticket holders - neither of them would be returning to the theme park again.
"To have a company be responsible for such a massive mental impact on my daughter, it’s tough. Tears wound up in her eyes. We as parents now have to undo the emotional damage that this corporate company caused us," he continued. The outraged dad even went so far as to say that the incident was something his child would be "discussing in therapy for years to come."
Raging Rivers has defended the decision to impose a weight limit on the ride in a statement, per The Sun.
"Our goal is never to embarrass anyone, but we must look out for their safety while visiting Raging Rivers," said a spokesperson for the park.
They added that "signage is located at the base of the slide, alerting guests of this restriction."
"We will continue to follow manufacturer guidelines for safety while offering our guests a fun experience at Raging Rivers Waterpark," the statement concluded.
