Edit because TrackinDaKraken already posted much the same thing. I will add though that the link says nothing about wanting to protect their reputation. In fact, in one interview quoted he clearly wants the ride shut down or fixed.

In a 1999 local news interview at the end of the clip, Fabio was visibly upset about the incident, “It wasn’t a freak accident, and it’s going to happen again, and I cannot live in my conscience to know that the ride is still running. And even a person, even a child, can be killed.”