APPLE VALLEY, Minn -- The young man who pushed an 8-year-old boy off the top of a water slide on Tuesday, sending him 32 feet to concrete below, bit a lifeguard at the same Apple Valley water park less than three weeks earlier but was not charged for that incident or told to stay away, according to police.
On Wednesday, Aug. 1, Roman Alexander Adams, 18, of Maple Grove was charged with third-degree assault in Dakota County District Court for allegedly picking up the boy and pushing him off the top of a waterslide at the Apple Valley Aquatic Center, which the city owns and runs.
He was arrested on a warrant Wednesday at his father’s home in Shorewood and released from Dakota County Jail after posting a $50,000 bond.
The boy remains hospitalized with a broken femur, several foot fractures and shattered shoulder bones, Apple Valley police Capt. Nick Francis said Thursday.
“I think this very well could have been a deadly incident,” he said. “Once we realized where this child fell from — the height which he fell from onto concrete — we were amazed that it only resulted in broken bones and other injuries. We were expecting much more internal injuries, head injuries and possible death. For whatever reason, this child landed in such a position where the injuries were quite minimal for the distance that he fell.”
Francis said Adams has a developmental disability but “knew what he did was wrong.”
“He knew what he did was going to hurt this little kid, and he made the decision to do it,” he said.
Adams bit the lifeguard on July 13, but police were not aware of it until after Tuesday’s incident, according to Francis. He said an injury report was made within the park system and the lifeguard was tested for communicable diseases.
Apple Valley City Administrator Tom Lawell said Thursday that the lifeguard was bitten while swimming underwater and “presented it as an employee injury, not as a personal assault.”
On Thursday, Park and Recreation Director Barry Bernstein directed questions about the bite to Francis.
Following the bite, the city could have pursued an assault charge against Adams and also given him a no-trespass order that would have kept him away from the pool, Francis said. He said he was not sure why park or other city staff failed to do either.
“My guess is that it’s just attributed to someone with a disability who did this, and it was the first time it happened with this person,” he said.
Adams thought line was ‘too long’
Police were called to the aquatic center at 14421 Johnny Cake Ridge Road about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday on a report of a boy with a broken leg. Officers found the boy on a concrete sidewalk below the water slide, conscious and breathing.
In an interview with police, Adams said he was waiting in line to use the water slide and that it was taking “too long,” a criminal complaint reads. He admitted that he picked up the boy from the platform at the top of the water slide, pushed him over the railing and saw him fall, charges said.
Witnesses told police there was no interaction between Adams and the boy before the incident, Francis said. They did not know each other.
At the time of the incident, a personal care assistant was with Adams but in another part of the park, Francis said.
The city shut down the park after the incident and reopened it Wednesday.
The boy’s identity is being withheld by police at the request of the family, Francis said. The boy had two surgeries Wednesday and is scheduled for at least two more.
“The family is pretty sheltered down about this,” Francis said. “They’re just focused on trying to get him through the surgeries and get him the care he needs.”
Under conditions of his release set by a Dakota County judge, Adams is not allowed at the water park or to have contact with minors.
Teen Allegedly Threw Boy, 8, Off 31-Foot-High Waterslide Platform Because Line Was Moving Slowly
People Jeff Truesdell,People Fri, Aug 3 4:52 PM EDT
Teen Charged After Throwing 8-Year-Old Boy From Atop 31-Foot-Tall Water Slide
An 8-year-old boy suffered multiple broken bones when an 18-year-old allegedly picked him up and threw him over the safety railing of a water slide in Minnesota, causing the boy to plunge about 30 feet, authorities say.
The teenager, 18-year-old Roman Alexander Adams, of Maple Grove, Minnesota, was arrested and charged with third-degree assault in the incident last Tuesday, PEOPLE confirms.
Adams was behind the boy in line at the water park but the individuals did not know each other, police say.
Questioned at the scene by police, Adams, who was in the park accompanied by a female professional personal care attendant, exhibited “some developmental disabilities,” Apple Valley Police Capt. Nick Francis tells PEOPLE.
“The male gave a statement that the line was moving too slow, and so he picked up and pushed the 8-year-old over the top of the slide platform,” he says.
“He understood that doing that was going to cause harm to the individual, he knew that by throwing him over he knew the individual was going to be hurt, he shouldn’t have done it, and he admitted to picking this kid up and pushing him over,” Francis says.
Adams has not entered a plea and will make his first court appearance on Sept. 17, a spokesman for the County Attorney’s Office in Dakota County tells PEOPLE.
PEOPLE’s call to Adams’ attorney, John J. Leunig, was not immediately returned.
The incident at the city-owned Apple Valley Family Aquatic Center occurred just before 1:35 p.m., when police were dispatched in response to an 8-year-old boy with a broken leg, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The boy’s injuries, later diagnosed at a hospital, include the broken femur in one leg, numerous fractures to both feet and shattered bones in a shoulder, the affidavit states. He remains in the hospital and his identity has not been made public, says Francis.
“The family is focusing on the care and recovery of their child, and they have asked that none of their personal information be released,” he says.
The attendant who accompanied Adams to the water park on that day did not witness the incident and was not in the area of the water slide when it happened, he says.
The platform at the top of the slide is 28.1 feet above the ground, according to the affidavit; the top of the safety railing that surrounds the platform, and over which Adams allegedly lifted the younger boy, is 31.9 feet above the ground.
Speaking to police at the water park, Adams “stated that he was waiting in line to use the slide and that it was taking a long time,” according to the affidavit. He “admitted that he threw the child from the platform. Defendant was later interviewed by a detective with the Apple Valley Police Department during which he stated that the line was too long so he ‘pushed’ the child over the railing and saw him fall.”
Francis says the water park has been run by Apple Valley, a municipal suburb of the Twin Cities, for 20 years. “This is absolutely unusual for them,” he says. Emergency calls to the park typically involve “skinned knees, someone takes in too much water, minor medical situations,” he says. “Never do they expect to have someone thrown over the top of the platform down to the ground.”
Adams was booked into Dakota County jail on a $50,000 bond with conditions, and released after posting bond.
The felony assault charge against him carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and fine up to $10,000.
