Teenager rescued after falling 25ft from amusement park ride

A teenager fell about 25 feet from a stopped gondola ride at an upstate New York amusement park Saturday night, tumbling into a crowd of park guests and employees gathered below to catch her before she hit the ground. Matthew Howard Sr. was just leaving a New York amusement park Saturday evening when he heard someone screaming. He looked up to see a young girl dangling about 25 feet (about 8 meters) off the ground from a slow-moving gondola ride. Her little brother sat next to her in the green two-person pod, crying hysterically for help, saying he couldn't hold on. Howard, 47, and his 21-year-old daughter, Leeann Winchell, positioned themselves under the girl as the ride stopped and security came running. A crowd of onlookers gathered, many filming, others calling for help. The girl lost her grip and fell down where Howard and Winchell, and others, were waiting. The two took the brunt of the girl's fall, tumbling to the ground themselves the catch. The two and some other good Samaritans carried to her to where emergency workers later arrived to help her.