PORT ORANGE, Fla. -- State inspectors are going over records for a ride that was set up at the Family Days Celebration in Port Orange. A woman and her 2-year-old child nearly fell 30 feet from the ride.

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State investigators are trying to figure out if the ride operator made a mistake or if the ride malfunctioned on its own. The state report shows the company has had problems with its rides in the past, but those problems were always fixed during state inspections.

Eyewitness News spoke with a man who caught the toddler. He said she and her mother were about 30 feet up in the ride when the mother trusted him and others to catch her child on the ground.

Sherri Pinkerton hung from the Crazy Bus ride 30 feet in the air over the weekend. She was barely holding onto her 2-year-old daughter with one arm. Don Wheat told Eyewitness News he and a group of other men convinced Pinkerton to let her daughter go.

"She had to trust us," he said. "She couldn't hold on much longer. Then she let her child drop. Then we caught the child."

Wheat had just walked off the same ride with his 3-year-old grandson when it suddenly swirled back into the air.

"I heard the operator say, 'Oh no.' I looked back, pulled my foot out and saw the ride moving, grabbed him and there were two other kids," Wheat said.

Pinkerton and three other children were trapped in the ride for 20 to 25 minutes before firefighters rescued them. There were no injuries.

"It's ridiculous," said eyewitness Stacey Jones. "I don't know what kind of people we have running these rides and it's scary to think we put our lives and our children's lives in the hands of these attendants."

The ride is owned by Arnold Amusements, which is based in Michigan and has an office near Tampa. Their rides are used at the State Fair and other festivals throughout the state, including in Tampa, Clearwater, Daytona Beach, Port Orange and Pensacola

Florida law requires the rides be checked by state inspectors before they can operate. Past reports Eyewitness News obtained on The Crazy Bus show the inspections turned up problems with loose bolts and missing latches.

In 2005, the ride's computer wasn't functioning properly before the State Fair.

Eyewitness News couldn't get any answers from crews breaking down Arnold's other rides Monday and Wheat didn't get much of a response when he questioned the operator right after he rescued the toddler.

"I asked him isn't there some kind of release and he said, 'I don't know,'" Wheat said.

The state expects to wrap up its investigation by Friday. The company could be fined up to $2,500. Eyewitness News tried repeatedly to reach the corporate offices, but calls weren't returned.

Last year, there were 185 carnival ride accidents. Most of them were due to riders not following the rules.