A Rye Playland worker was thrown off a gyrating ride and killed in what officials are calling a freak accident.

Twenty-one-year-old Gabriela Garin, of White Plains, had worked at the county-owned park since she was 14. Garin was the manager of the Mind Scrambler ride and had been running it Friday night. Officials say she then switched duties with the ticket taker for one cycle and climbed aboard with other patrons for a ride around 9:30 p.m.

County Executive Andy Spano says witnesses saw Garin kneeling backwards in the ride car and motioning for the ride to start. She was thrown from her car about 20 seconds into the ride.

Garin?s family members are angered after hearing Spano and other county officials say their initial investigation shows her death was caused by her decision to go for a ride on the Mind Scrambler while she was on duty. Garin?s sister says she knew the ride like the back of her hand and the behavior Spano described is uncharacteristic of her.

Ironically Garin, the mother of a 2-year-old girl, was working at the Mind Scrambler ride when a 7-year-old girl was killed on it in 2004. A 7-year-old boy was also killed in 2005 at the park when he climbed out of his boat ride.

County officials said the Mind Scrambler passed its safety inspection at the beginning of the season, but would be closed for the rest of the summer. Two other rides owned by the same company as the Mind Scrambler will also be closed this year.

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