Rye Playland Update: Victim Was Off-Duty Employee

So reports a local paper:

A woman killed last night at Playland Amusement Park was a park employee taking a break from her duties operating the ride on which she was killed, Westchester County officials said this morning.

Gabriela Garin of White Plains, 21, had worked at the county-owned park since she was 14, officials said, and was working at the Mind Scrambler ride when a 7-year-old girl was killed on it in 2004.

Garin, who had been running the ride last night, switched duties with the ticket taker for one cycle, officials said, and climbed aboard with other patrons for a ride about 9:30 p.m. She got into a seat without securing her safety belt and was thrown from the fast-spinning, indoor ride, County Executive Andy Spano said, citing eyewitness reports.

--BC