The students were treated and released from the hospital that night, according to Ball State's Twitter account.
Travis Nerding, a freshman life science education major, and Kyle Kedra, a junior meteorology and geographic information studies major, were next in line to get on the ride.
"Basically where the feet rest is, as they were going up, it got caught and both the passengers feet were stuck in between," Nerding said. "We just heard this screaming and the guy running the ferris wheel started freaking out, trying to press the button to make [the ride] stop, trying to get people to help him."
More than a dozen people were holding on to the ride, attempting to make it stop before Ball State police and Muncie firefighters arrived. Both Nerding and Kedra said they did their best and attempted to get the foot rest off of the girls' feet, but said it wasn't budging.
Kedra said his adrenaline was pumping while he was trying to help, but he feared the worst.
"It was a creepy thought, but I thought her foot was going to get amputated, with how much force that machine had," he said. "And the girls were saying a prayer … saying, 'Jesus help me.'"
What Duckham thought was hydraulic fluid from the machine had leaked around the surrounding area.
"I'm not a mechanical guy … but that's what it smells like," Duckham said.
Megan Chandler, a freshman biology and zoology major, was on the ride when the incident happened. She said this was her first time ever on a carnival ride.
"It was absolutely terrifying," she said. "Thankfully the swift action of the guys who were there stopped it before it could keep going too far … or else I think their feet might have came right off."
Clare Popa, who rode next to Chandler, said she saw one of the girls had both of her feet stuck, while the other had just one of hers.
"She was bleeding a lot, the girl with both feet stuck," the sophomore elementary education major said. "I think she probably broke her leg."
Chandler said her mom warned her about the possible dangers of carnival rides and Tedra agreed.
"My mom always said when I was growing up, 'Any time a ride takes one day to put up and take down, … I'm not going on it,'" she said.
Late Nite officials were not able to comment at the time. The names of the women were not released.
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