‘Suspicious’ Damage Found At Disneyland

Sun., Feb. 21, 1999

From Staff

Police were investigating on Saturday a damaged cleat that was found sawed at its base on the Mark Twain Riverboat at Disneyland.

The broken cleat, found Friday morning, was considered “suspicious” by police because park employees could not explain why it had been sawed, police Sgt. Joe Vargas said.

“It could be anything from possible sabotage or tampering or it could be part of (a renovation) process,” Vargas said. “The problem was, nobody could explain why.”

A similar metal part snapped off the theme park’s Columbia sailing ship in December, fatally injuring a Washington man and seriously injuring his wife and a Disneyland employee.

Disneyland was criticized for not immediately calling police at the time of that accident.

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