Lawyers Participate in Artist’s Coney Island ‘Waterboard Thrill Ride’

Artist Steve Powers hopes he reached people who aren’t familiar with waterboarding at his Coney Island “Waterboard Thrill Ride.”

For just $1, park-goers were able to peer through bars and see motorized mannequins convulse while water was poured on their faces, the Washington Post reports. A SpongeBob SquarePants figure painted on the outside of the exhibit proclaimed, "It don't Gitmo better!"

The exhibit, sponsored by a public arts organization called Democracy in America, closed Friday. It has been moved to the Park Avenue Armory.

Powers and some lawyers underwent real waterboarding in a private room at the amusement park Friday. “One woman looked fragile and tiny, her feet kicking helplessly in platform shoes as water filled her eyes and nose,” the newspaper reports.

Karin Kunstler Goldman, an assistant New York state attorney general, told the Post the experience was terrifying. "The fact that it took place near roller coasters and cotton candy sends an important message: We here can engage in frivolity and fun at a time when in our name this is happening to people somewhere else," she said.