Police: Equipment Failure In Fatal Fall At Church

CINCINNATI—Police investigating a fatal church accident are looking at the possibility that a safety harness worn by a Christmas pageant performer failed during an aerial rope act.

Results of a preliminary police investigation released Friday conclude that the death of Keri Shryock, 23, of suburban Toledo, was an accident.

Shryock fell about 25 feet to a concrete floor during Wednesday’s opening night performance at Crossroads Community Church and died a few hours later.

The church canceled the remaining 10 performances of the show.

“Shryock was performing in a Christmas play at Crossroads Church when an equipment failure occured and was then released from her D-ring and fell,“ according to a police report released Friday.

Cincinnati police completed their investigation and turned evidence over to the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office.

The coroner’s report will focus only on the cause of death, meaning the type of injury, rather than the reason for the fall, spokesman Terry Daley said.

No other government agency is likely to pursue an investigation.

“There’s a gap there,“ said Dick Gilgrist, area director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. “I equate it to someone going to one of these rock climbing walls and falling; it’s totally a civil matter.“

Gilgrist said his agency made some inquiries and concluded it had no basis to investigate a situation in which the person who was injured was a volunteer performer.

“We looked into it, whether there was any type of employer-employee relationship,“ he said. “If there was, we would have jurisdiction.“

Shryock, from Sylvania, Ohio, near Toledo, had graduated from Bowling Green State University this year and was working on a master’s degree in education at Xavier University in Cincinnati, where she also was an assistant in the Office of Commuter Services and Off Campus Living.

She and two other performers were making an ascent on ropes in a symbolic portrayal of the journey of three wise men to Bethlehem when Shryock fell headfirst to the concrete floor.

“I know the performers wore some kind of harness and they got some professional training especially to do this,“ said Natalie Hastings, a spokeswoman for the church.

She said the church hadn’t been given any details of the police investigation.

Crossroads was founded in 1996 and has grown to a membership of about 10,000. It is known for dramatic and musical presentations at weekend services.

The nondenominational mega-church’s Web site said the Christmas show “Awaited” was seen by more than 20,000 people when it debuted last year.

Shryock had some gymnastics training and was excited about performing the rope act, said Melissa Davish, a friend and former gymnastics club teammate at Bowling Green.

“She was really excited about doing something that unique,“ Davish said. “We always talked about Cirque du Soleil, about being an acrobat.“

Stay with NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com for the latest sports news and information.
To submit a story idea or news tip, e-mail .

MORE: NBC 4 Local News | Local Crime News
NBC 4 SPORTS: Sports News, Video
NBC 4 POLITICS: Headlines, Interactives & Video