was halted. There were 27 sent to the hospital, many reporting head, and neck injuries, with all but two being released the same day. None of the injuries were life-threatening. After an inspection the following day, the park stated that the accident was caused by a crack or split in the wood. The ride was shut down for an extended period of time, while the park worked with the State of Ohio to complete a full investigation. The park completed repairs of the ride but the state asked for extensive testing to be done to ensure it would not happen again. The park indicated that the ride would not reopen until the 2007 season. After the 2006 incident, the trains were replaced with lighter models before the ride reopened the following season. The loop was also removed during this time. The riders injured in the 2006 incident filed five lawsuits, four of which were settled out-of-court. In the fifth lawsuit, a judge ruled that Kings Island had to pay over $76,000 in compensatory damages. Forensic investigator Rick Schmizze testified that Kings Island had known since 2000 that the ride had major issues with swaying, but that park officials had not done enough to fix the problem. Kings Island settled the last lawsuit in 2011. 2009 On June 16, 2009, a woman claimed to have suffered a head injury from riding Son of Beast during her visit to the park on May 31, 2009. She did not report the incident to Kings Island officials before June 16. She claimed to have suffered from a burst blood vessel in her brain, after riding Son of Beast, that required admission to an intensive care unit at a nearby hospital. "The first we heard of this was on June 16. Her visit was on May 31 and there's no record of going to first aid for anything here at the park," said Don Helbig, public relations manager for Kings Island. Helbig also pointed out that there were no other reports of injuries on the ride that year. Son of Beast was shut down as a precaution, however, during the investigation. "At this point, it would be inappropriate to speculate on an exact date when the ride may reopen. We're going to do a thorough maintenance review. We're going to work with the state of Ohio on that," said Helbig. An investigation followed, and no