Hi-Miler: Houston Attorney Calls for State Investigation of Rodeo Roller-Coaster Death

Photo by Jeff Balke

The Hi-Miler: Demands for more action

​A Houston-area attorney says lax supervision of the Hi-Miler ride at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo made a fatal accident a "statistical certainty" and is calling for a state investigation.

Attorney Joe Stephens sent a formal complaint to the Texas Department of Insurance calling for an investigation into operator Ray Cammack Shows and the HLSR for the March 23 death of Brian Greenhouse, 46.

He says riders had complained about the Hi-Miler in the days before the accident.

"The entire ride should have been shut down until they redesigned the underlying problem of the latching bar," he wrote. "Unless it was corrected, it was a statistical certainty that someone would be killed."

Stephens represents a woman suing over a Hi-Miler injury.

The Houston Press has written on Ray Cammack Shows' safety record, and the article is cited by Stephens in his letter.

Meantime, another critic warns that, basically, the machine is still on the loose.

"This Hi-Miler Roller Coaster travels from state to state, primarily in the southwest corner of the United States," says analyst Ken Martin. "The states that it operates in are very loosely regulated when it comes to amusement ride safety....If the death of an individual wasn't sad enough, the Hi-Miler Roller Coaster has been allowed to move on to the next spot without the proper testing or incident reconstruction that is an everyday part of life. How could we improve things without doing a proper and through investigation?"