VIERA, Fla. — Two Viera teenagers were injured last week when a truck allegedly driven by a worker setting up for the Space Coast State Fair struck the golf cart he and another student were riding on the cart path on Stadium Parkway near Space Coast Daily Park. The incident has renewed public concern over the safety and oversight of events hosted by Space Coast Daily, which has faced a series of scandals in recent years involving convicted sex offenders and alleged drug use among workers.
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Flyer circulated by the mother of one of the victims.
According to one of the teen’s mother, her son and a friend were driving a golf cart to school when a truck sped out of the fairgrounds parking lot (exiting through the entrance lane), failed to stop, and slammed into them , flipping the golf cart. Her son suffered a broken ankle and his friend sustained a knee injury. She said her son had just made the soccer team at Viera High days before.
The driver, identified as Laird McEwen Brown of Fort Smith, Arkansas, was cited for failure to stop, expired registration, and for improperly exiting through an entrance. Also after running the insurance, the policy presented was invalid. The vehicle was registered to Specialty Entertainment Corp. of Steger, Illinois, a company tied to Modern Midways, which provides rides and attractions for Space Coast Daily’s fair operations.
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Family members said a man identifying himself as Robert Briggs, the president of Modern Midways, arrived at the scene shortly after the crash.
“We’re thankful our boys weren’t killed,” the mother told The Space Coast Rocket. “But if the company setting up rides for our kids can’t even keep their vehicles registered or insured, what does that say about the rest of their operation?”
History of Sex Offenders and Oversight Failures
This isn’t the first time Space Coast Daily’s events have drawn controversy.
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In 2024, The Space Coast Rocket exposed that a convicted child rapist, Charles Maslin, had been working at a Space Coast Daily fair despite being a registered sex offenderasdf. Maslin was filmed managing vendor booths, and the investigation prompted Brevard County to change its sex predator ordinance and grant-funding policies. There was a loophole in the ordinance which allowed registered sex offenders to violate location restrictions as long as they were “gainfully employed” which in this case was at SpaceX Coast Daily Park.
Then, in early 2025, SCR revealed that another registered child sex offender, professional wrestler Chasyn Rance, was featured at Space Coast Daily’s fairgrounds events and later filmed performing with special-needs children at Palm Bay High School.
Rance’s presence on school property — and at the fair — violated multiple state and county restrictions.
Worker Under Influence Caught on Video
Adding to the concern, fairgoers captured video of a Space Coast Daily fair worker appearing heavily under the influence of drugs while operating a carnival attraction. The footage, shared thousands of times on social media, showed the worker swaying and nodding off as children waited to play. The incident drew hundreds of comments questioning the fair’s hiring and supervision practices.
Pattern of Negligence
The Space Coast State Fair opens Thursday, October 30, and runs through November 16 at Space Coast Daily Park in Viera. The park, owned by The Viera Company, sits between a church and Viera Middle School — locations where sex offenders are normally prohibited by law.
Residents say the latest accident and past controversies point to a disturbing pattern of negligence. “Every year there’s a new incident — a sex offender, a drugged-out worker, now a crash that put a kid in the hospital,” one Viera parent told SCR. “How many warnings does the county need before someone steps in?”
As of this week, Florida Division of Corporations records show no active registration for either “Specialty Entertainment Corp.” or “Modern Midways” in the state.
Neither Space Coast Daily nor Modern Midways has publicly commented on the crash, the citations, or renewed concerns about safety oversight at their events. Neither responded to our request for comment either.
