Girl's hair got caught, scalp ripped off on carnival ride

OMAHA, NE (WTXF) - It's hard to imagine the horror and torture a little girl endured on a carnival ride at a Cinco de Mayo festival.

The 11-year-old's bright red hair got caught in a spinning ride called King's Crown, and her scalp got ripped off of her head.

Virginia Cooksey, the girl's mother, posted an emotional Facebook post on Sunday, including several images.

TV station WOWT in Nebraska reported Elizabeth Gilreath rode on Saturday. Witnesses told the station the ride had just started when her red curls got caught in a mechanism. Then, she began screaming.

Another mother, Jolene Cisneros, was nearby. She ran over to stop the ride.

"It was still spinning. I had to stop it with my hands and turn it to the point where it was to the platform," she told WOWT.

Cisneros saw Elizabeth bleeding on the floor of the ride.

"I was like, you're going to be okay and she's just like, where's my pretty hair?" Cisneros explained. "I didn't know it was my child, I just knew there's a child and she needed help."

Elizabeth fell unconscious. A horrified Cisneros said she thought the girl might die right in front of her.

According to her father, Timothy Gilreath, "It went on for 5-10 minutes, everybody told me, while it ripped and pulled my daughter around. They don't even know if the muscles will work and my daughter will be able to see again. That is our baby."

Click here for the full story, including surveillance video of the ride's conductor running off to get help.