Prosecution: 2 workers obstructed inquiry into slide death

(AP) — Prosecutors say two maintenance workers at a Kansas water park where a 10-year-old boy was decapitated on a waterslide deliberately mislead investigators as their criminal trial began.

The Kansas City Star reports that attorneys for David Hughes and John Zalsman countered Tuesday that the Kansas Attorney General’s Office misunderstood how the 17-story Verruckt waterslide functioned.

The men are charged with obstructing the investigation into the August 2016 death of Caleb Schwab at Schlitterbahn in Kansas City.

Hughes and Zalsman are accused of failing to replace a brake mat that fell off a raft two weeks before it went airborne, killing Caleb. The prosecution says the men then lied and said the mat had only been used for testing. The park’s co-owner and the ride’s designer have also been indicted.