Gothamist: Lawsuit Says Mechanical Bull Too Rough for City Slicker

NannyState

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:48:01 -0500

At least if he gets drunk and rides the Acela train, there's overhead wires to hang onto.

jalcon

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:19:07 -0500

This guy is a good guy and a good writer. I rode the bull directly before him and Aaron is extremely credible. I was right there, and people who have snarky things to say about this, you are the big D. He is a great person and he did nothing wrong.

Wza

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:31:57 -0500

Another douche makes the news.

Gwinny

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:02:04 -0500

OMG! I totally went to college with this guy (but have since fallen out of touch)...hilarious!

jenspellnogood

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:53:00 -0500

24!!!!!

fotoaddict

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:28:51 -0500

having been there a few times myself.. 1.. They do shake women for the shakey effect 2.. How hard you're thrown off depends on how hard you hold on. Everyone gets thrown (hydraulic bull will always win) so it ends up being the big guys who refuse to let go who end up effectively hurting themselves (bruised thighs, twisted wrists, smacking the outside padded wall, ...) 3. He rode on a Wednesday.. Monday's their fun night..

Sommelier

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:28:43 -0500

Tell you what... you want a real fun ride? Wanna look good in front of your drunken friends? First, drink a whole lot. Yeah... almost to the point of puking. Take a walk over to 77 East 3rd St. There's a whole lot of motorcycles out front. Hop on one of them and start making loud "vroom, vroom" noises. Just do that for a few minutes and, believe me, you'll have a ride that you'll never forget!

La Leone

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:28:23 -0500

Its annoying that a mechanical bull ride even exists within NYC limits, but aaaaaanyway... 1. If you are trying to ride a actual wild animal and you get thrown off, gored, or trampled: Well, duh. 2. If you willingly sign up to get on a ride that simulates this, plus the operator is drunk and also behaving like a wild animal...well double DUH! Once again, take responsibilty for your own actions! 3. Well I'm @ it, bullfighters get what they deserve as well. A ball-goring is getting off easy. It's not macho or glamorous. It's stupid and cruel.

Sommelier

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:12:05 -0500

What a bunch of whining wimps! If it as just a little carnival ride, you'd be complaining that it wasn't rough enough! What do you think happens in a REAL bull?

takethecanoli

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:04:47 -0500

13 nailed it. The whole concept is stupid. The safest way to operate it is probably for the boob flash, or replace it with a Sybian and make the crowd *and* rider happy.

chuzzlewit

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:01:24 -0500

shimmy shake sprinkler ride. heh.

maevemealone

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:56:40 -0500

17: From my experience that night, they were not operating it to simulate an actual bull ride. That should be the point of it but that's not what I saw happening. I was not drinking much that night so I don't know if they ever turn people away for being drunk, other bars they do try to determine if you're safe to ride.

jenspellnogood

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:54:23 -0500

victim society 101. don't worry obama will make sure everyone gets paid on these spurious claims.

jaycjay

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:44:15 -0500

"If he was very drunk, he's incapable of legally binding himself that way. True, but it's also illegal to serve alcohol to someone who's inebriated, so the bar's position would be that he wasn't that drunk. I've always thought that the whole point of the mechanical bull was that they're supposed to do everything they can to throw you off -- like a real bull would. It's supposed to give you a taste of what that would be like. But I guess at NYC tourist bars it's supposed to be just an amusement park ride?

maevemealone

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:43:54 -0500

10: yes, the operator of the ride was seen drinking at the bar several times that night. 11: I signed the paperwork before I saw anyone riding the bull, it was a quieter night so there wasn't a line to ride or anything. Before I rode, I only saw one girl ride. She got the shimmy shake sprinkler ride and didn't last long on it but I remarked that that isn't the way it should be operated, he's just trying to make girls boobs fall out. I rode and asked him to please operate it like a regular bull ride. He didn't do the sprinkler moves on me (I wasn't going to fall out of what I was wearing anyways). Everyone after me got very rough rides and I remarked that someone is going to get hurt. It's a hydraulic machine with a lot of power, he was maxing out the maneuvers the machine was capable of doing. Look, everyone goes into that ride knowing they're going to get thrown and they'll probably come out sore and a bit bruised, but there is a responsibility of the establishment to operate the equipment properly so as to not cause UNDUE injuries. I wouldn't automatically assume this guy has no case just because he signed a waiver. The bull operator was a dick when I was there and I'm not surprised at all that someone is suing them this reason.

Rocknrope

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:41:20 -0500

Guess those spec scripts aren't getting picked up, eh Schnore?

JMH

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:32:48 -0500

fugothamist wrote:signed.a.releaseIf he was very drunk, he's incapable of legally binding himself that way.

emilydickinson

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:24:55 -0500

That's what you get for drinking at Johnny Utah's. There are thousands of bars in the city, so why anyone would drink there is beyond me. I actually know someone else who was thrown off the bull there a few months back, and ended up smacking their head on the railing (which supposedly had covers which mysteriously weren't present), and was taken out in an ambulance and received stitches and a concussion. They are in fact NOT suing because they feel it is their own fault basically. The main point here is if you get drunk and ride a mechanical bull, you should probably expect to get hurt. NYC is way too insanely litigious to have something like a mechanical bull in your drinking establishment.

Outter Burrougher

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:59:13 -0500

maevemealone: if you were so concerned and felt that someone was going to get hurt, why did you sign a release and then ride?

slappy

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:51:54 -0500

This guy's name is really Schnore? http://www.translationdirectory.com/dictionaries/dictionary004_s.htm Yiddish:Schnorer: a begger, a moocher; a beggar who makes pretensions to respectability; a sponger, a parasite; a person who lives by begging or by sponging on others; a freeloader

Politburo

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:33:43 -0500

maevemealone - You're implying that the operator at this establishment was drinking.. is that correct?

fugothamist

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:14:39 -0500

signed.a.release

maevemealone

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:12:58 -0500

This is totally true. I went to a birthday party here two weeks ago and sprained my wrist. I've ridden mechanical bulls before and you will always get beat up and bruised, but the operator at Johnny Utah's is very reckless in how he operates this machine. For women, he shakes it back and forth like a sprinkler (to get the boobs shaking) then throws it forward so they are on their face hanging on for dear life then spins it around fast for a very long time until they are thrown off. I was waiting for someone to throw up! The men, they definitely make it very rough, almost vengefully violent as if trying to hurt them. When I rode I told the operator to operate it correctly and don't do that crap you're doing to other girls, he said you don't get to decide what ride you get. He did do a slightly better job with me even though I still got hurt. As I watched everyone else ride I kept saying someone is going to get hurt, he isn't operating this right and he's just being an ass about it. They aren't even trying to simulate a bull ride! I rode at Mason Dixon last year and the operator was gentler on girls, made sure riders were not too drunk (the operator wasn't drinking either) and didn't actively try to hurt people. When you sign the waiver releasing them of fault, you have some expectation that they aren't going to actively try to hurt you.

Jen S

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:05:50 -0500

I rode that bull, too, and lived to tell about it. Puss!

colleenMM

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:01:16 -0500

One who takes part in such a sport accepts the dangers that inhere in it so far as they are obvious and necessary: http://www.audiocasefiles.com/acf_cases/8889-murphy-v-steeplechase-amusement-co-

spiritross

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:59:05 -0500

Note to self Don't do anything anymore anywhere

TK

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:55:06 -0500

I love this story's search Tags: lawsuit and mechanical bull!

takethecanoli

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:46:24 -0500

what a d-bag.

zodak

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:37:05 -0500

i rode that bull & everyone only gets 30 seconds: when your time is up the operator does a spin/buck which always throws anyone off. this guy is an idiot. he signed a release. suck it up.

jonathan

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:30:45 -0500

This is why we can't have nice, violent, things. The news looks more and more like the Onion everyday.