GASTONIA, N.C. — Altitude Trampoline Park told NBC Charlotte Thursday afternoon that a climbing wall attraction will be removed from its location following the death of a 12-year-old boy.
Courtney Wilde, Executive Vice President of Global Operations at Altitude Trampoline Park, said employees have been working diligently to find out how 12-year-old Matthew Lu fell while on the Clip ‘N Climb structure.
"Last week’s tragic fall was an accident - an unfortunate case of human error," Wilde said. "Lu was wearing a properly fitted harness and was instructed by a certified court monitor on how to self-clip into the belay system, but in this instance that did not occur."
NBC Charlotte learned an employee fits each child with a harness and shows them how to secure it to the climbing wall once, then kids are left to do it on their own.
Cell phone video taken moments after Lu fell on Wednesday showed the climbing wall he was climbing on. but it was difficult to see safety mats beneath the wall.
“It is a self-belay system so the regulations around that just qualify a 3-foot by 2-foot mat down at the bottom,” said Wilde.
Wilde said the equipment is inspected every day, and employees are certified to properly fit customers into harnesses.
"We do know that the harness was fitted correctly based on our safety protocols,” she said.
But an employee doesn't check if the harness is locked in every time a child climbs one of the rock walls.
According to Altitude Trampoline Park out of respect for the family, team members and guests, they will be removing the rock wall attraction from the Gastonia location.
"We would not expect our visitors, nor our team members to partake in this attraction after such a tragedy," Wilde said.