Fair worker Timothy Dwayne Tutterrow accused of tampering with ride as accident injures 5

A MAN has been arrested after he was accused of deliberately tampering with a ride at a state fair, causing five people to be injured.

Timothy Dwayne Tutterrow, 46, was operating the Vortex, a popular ride that flips and spins riders, when the accident happened at the North Carolina State Fair.

According to multiple media reports witnesses said the ride restarted while people were still getting off.

Several people were thrown off and knocked unconscious as onlookers watched in horror at the state fair that attracts tens of thousands of visitors.

Five were injured and three people were hospitalised, the youngest victim aged 14.

Fairgrounds Police secure a barricade around the Vortex after an accident closed the ride on Thursday at he North Carolona State Fair in Raleigh. Source: AP

Police claim Tutterrow deliberately tampered with the ride’s safety features.

"After inspection of the ride, we determined that it had been tampered with and critical safety devices were compromised," Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison told local news channel ABC11.

Tutterrow, 46, from Georgia was charged with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious bodily injury. Bail was set at $225,000, Harrison said.