officer

Girl Injured in Fort Lauderdale Beach Bounce House Incident Released From Hospital

A young girl who was injured after the bounce house she was in was sent flying by a waterspout at Fort Lauderdale Beach, Florida, was released from the hospital Tuesday.

"I thought I was gonna die," Shamoya Ferguson said.

Ferguson spent the night at Broward Health Medical Center under observation after the Memorial Day incident that left the 6-year-old and two other children injured.

"I'm stressed, I'm really stressed, I never expected something like this, I was so shocked," mother Tameka Liscombe said at the hospital Tuesday. "When I went home last night I can't sleep, all night, I wake up with nightmares."

The frightening incident, which was caught on video, showed the bounce house spinning as it lifted off the ground and dropped the children onto the sand below.

"I was in the bounce house, then I fell," Ferguson said, adding it felt like she was in "a tornado.'

Shadaja Bryant, 5, was left with a broken arm after the violent ride. Shamoya's 11-year-old step-brother, AJ, was also injured.

Fort Lauderdale City Manager Lee Feldman issued a statement Tuesday calling the incident a "freak act of nature" that was unpredictable.

"The change in weather was sudden and severe. An intense water spout came ashore rapidly and without warning bringing forceful winds that meteorologists have estimated were between 65 and 85 miles per hour," Feldman said. "Its powerful unpredictable path knocked down street lights and destroyed a cement basketball support structure."

Feldman said the city has put the bounce house vendor, All Star Events, on notice of their responsibility as they investigate the incident.

"It's just an accident, things happen, the greatest thing is that she's here," father Omar Ferguson said.

Contact Us