Young Man Decapitated by Roller Coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia
Teen Dies Apparently Trying to Retrieve a Hat
Police will not release the young man's identity until an autopsy has been completed.
According to reports, the young man was at the park with a church group out of Springfield, SC. Authorities say the young man and his friend ignored numerous signs marked "DO NOT ENTER", "DANGER ZONE", and "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY" to enter the restricted area beneath the ride..
When the young man was struck, the coaster was moving at top speed which, per the Six Flags website, is approximately 50 mph, according to the police. Park officials say they closed the park, after the accident out of respect for the family. They expect to reopen on Monday.
In this case, the accident appears to have been the fault of the teenager in question, however, it will surely add to Six Flags' woes. According to rideaccidents.com, In June 2007, a young woman lost both of her feet on the "Superman Tower of Power" roller coaster at the Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, when a cable snapped. A recently concluded investigation by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture(KDA) found the park to negligent in their maintenance of the ride.
A portion of the text of the final report reads as follows."Based upon scientific evidence and expert opinion, the cause of the cable failure has been determined to be fatigue, a progressive failure of the mechanism. Also based upon expert opinion, it was determined that the extent of the fatigue would have made it possible for SFKK personnel to detect the deteriorating condition of the cable using the procedures outlined in the more recent ride manual. Therefore, a violation of 302 KAR 16:020(5) occurred due to the cable not being maintained in good mechanical condition." To read the full KDA report click here. Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom was cited and fined $1000.00. To read a full account of this accident and to check amusement ride accident statistics check out Rideaccidents.com. Six Flags denies any culpability in the young woman's accident.
Sources:
http://www.rideaccidents.com
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5icJKWwVpBMEbT5HEKFrs_UBNUgWQD91JF11G0
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/national_world&id=6227791
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/tortsprof/2008/05/kentucky-agricu.html
Published by Demetria Dixon
I am a stand up comedian and a writer. I have committed myself to this path and opened myself to the future. I plan to eat, sleep, breath and be it. View profile
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17 Comments
Post a CommentWell its not superman's day now is it?
what a dumbass he got what he deserved then, he should of been smart enough to get some help from staff before hopping the fence w his equally as dumbass friend. if you ask me, they both should of got owned.
@Tony Vega: So you're basically saying the park needs to be on the lookout for stupid people who ignore explicit warnings multiple times? That's akin to saying that highway patrol officers need to guard the freeway so people don't get run over. HELLO! There is a limit to what can be done in terms of safety precautions - and preventing stupidity is something that will never be accomplished by any level of security and safety measures.
That being said, it is regrettable the loss of life of this young man. However, in this case, the park is not at fault whatsoever.
Very good report on such a tragic event. I can't help but wonder why the park did not have security posted along that area...if a kid, as proven in this tragic case, was able to climb two fences into a guillotine..it appears that saftey precautions were inadequate. We have laws directing home owners not to have their swimming pools to close to their fence..there must be some directive prohibiting a 50mph machine capable of decapitating someone from being in close proximity to a 6ft fence. I don't know all the details in this case but it appears the park has a huge share of negligence, which will do nothing to restore this family's loss..but perhaps the subsequent litigation would prevent future tragedies.
It always makes me cringe to hear about accidents like this - such a needloss loss.
Most of us have done something stupid and luckily we lived to tell the tale. This child was probably havng great fun until the end. It's unfortunate that this had to happen. Linda, I too don't like roller coasters. I will ride them sometimes just to prove to myself that I can but for the most part I dislike them. I feel bad for this young man's family who were there and though no one mentioned anything, I would hate to think they might have witnessed this incident.
These rides scare me. I won't ride them, even though hubby laughs at me.
I believe all amusement parks should have stricter controls around the access areas, and once a ride starts there should be no way a person should be able to get in there, until such time as the ride has come to a complete standstill. As the people have said the kid made a mistake, and paid for it with his life.My condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.
Johannesburg - South Africa
Even though I recently wrote an artice on all the new rides at amusement parks for 2008, its a for real fact that roller coasters are unsafe. Here in california there have been so many deaths due to rides. Great write up pretty girl!
I know a $1000 measly dollars and this young woman has not feet. Actually they were able to reattach one foot but she is facing numerous operations and medical costs. Of course her family has filed suit against the park. I hope and pray they ae abelto get restitution for their loss and suffering. As for the young man, he like many a teenager before him made an eror in judgement and paid for it with his life. Hopefully it won't be in vain and others will learn from his mistakes. Thanks everyone for reading.