LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- An amusement park ride where a girl's legs were severed last summer was not designed to stop automatically in case a cable broke, the park's maintenance chief said in a deposition.

John Schmidt, ride maintenance manager for Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, said the Superman Tower of Power should have been designed differently.

"Do you think that this ride ought to shut down when a cable breaks?" attorney Larry Franklin asked Schmidt in the Nov. 30 deposition.

"Yes," Schmidt answered.

Franklin represents Kaitlyn Lasitter and her family, who have sued the park over the June 21 accident. Kaitlyn, 14, had one of her feet reattached and recently began walking with a prosthetic leg.

The ride, which was closed after the accident, lifted passengers 177 feet, then dropped them at speeds of more than 50 mph.

Schmidt, ride maintenance manager at the park since 1998, said he didn't know why the ride's cable broke.

The state Department of Agriculture is investigating the accident and has the broken cable. It soon will be sent to a laboratory for testing to determine why it broke.

Carolyn McLean, a spokeswoman for Kentucky Kingdom, said she could not comment on ongoing legal proceedings.

In his deposition, Schmidt said the cables on the ride were changed every three to four years, if not before. Technicians also visually checked the cables twice a week from the top of the ride, and once a year, inspectors would measure the diameter of the cable at various points, he said.

In another deposition released Tuesday, an emergency medical technician who was with Kaitlyn on the way to the hospital said at points she was crying uncontrollably. EMT Brian Toms said she was conscious but in a lot of pain and near hysterics during the ride.