Dublin water slide reopens following terrifying accident

DUBLIN, Calif. (KGO) -- An East Bay water slide is back open this holiday weekend. It's the same water slide which left a 10-year-old boy injured after he hydroplaned off it last Memorial Day weekend.

Parent Mike Menache was the first to splash down on the Emerald Plunge water slide. Mike says he had no fear.

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"None whatsoever," he told ABC7 News. "Totally safe. I felt totally safe."

But convincing his son to ride the slide was a different story. He declined.

One year ago, 10-year-old Jamie Hayduk Jones hydroplaned off the slide. The incident was caught on camera.

It happened on opening day, at the city-owned and operated Wave water park.

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Hayduk Jones suffered injuries to his back. His father recalled what employees told him after the accident.

"We tested the slide for height but not weight, really?" Haduck Jones' father Ron said, "My son's a guinea pig to figure that out?"

The Hayducks sued for $2.5 million in damages and recently settled with the slide's manufacturer.

Dublin says the 48-foot emerald plunge slide and adjacent slide, which was also closed, are now safe.

"Yes, slides have been recertified. We've gone through extensive testing," Shari Jackman of the City of Dublin said.

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The biggest safety change was lowering the water level at the base of the slide.

Alex Nouripour, 11, was the first kid to try it out. "It felt awesome. I don't know why other kids are too scared," he said. "I loved doing it."

Other kids were not far behind to take the plunge.