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10-year-old boy died of fatal neck injury at end of water slide, police say

Posted at 8:52 PM, Aug 08, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-08 21:33:52-04

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- The 10-year-old boy who died on the Verrückt water slide at Schlitterbahn in Kansas City on Sunday died from a "fatal neck injury" at the end of the ride, police said on Monday.

Caleb Schwab was at Schlitterbahn with his mom, dad and brothers.  Caleb is the second son of Michele and Scott Schwab, a Kansas representative.

Caleb was grouped with two adult women on the Verrückt water slide around 2:30 p.m. One of the women suffered a broken jaw, and the other a broken bone in her face and had to have stitches in her eye, according to WDAF.

The husband of one of the women says they are also suffering emotionally. He says the women do not know exactly what happened because it happened so fast.

One of the women had her eyes closed. The other woman described it as the worst day of her life, according to WDAF.

Police say they will not be conducting any interviews or news conferences related to this incident at this time. The incident remains under investigation.

The family's pastor, Clint Sprague, held a news conference at 5:30 p.m., on Monday to announce funeral plans.

"This has been devastating at every level," Sprague said. "You know, you leave church, you go to a water park to be with family, and to enjoy. Then you hit tragedy. There's just no way to prepare for this."

The family's pastor said the family attended church Sunday morning and heard it was "Elected Officials Day" at Schlitterbahn.  Although it was cloudy, they decided to go to the water park once the clouds lifted.

Pastor Sprague says Michele and Scott are relying on their faith to get through this difficult time.

"Caleb was an incredible young man," Sprague said. "10 years old, full of life, loved baseball, basketball, soccer. He was always doing something."

GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family with the funeral expenses of Caleb’s sudden death.

Schlitterbahn water park issued a statement on Monday that said the park is tentatively scheduled to reopen on Wednesday, but Verrückt will remain closed.