A man died and four other people were hurt Monday afternoon on Goliath, one of the tallest and fastest roller coasters at Six Flags Over Georgia, after witnesses said he came out of his seat mid-ride. Six Flags has since shut down nine similar coasters at parks across North America while police figure out what happened.
Police on Tuesday identified him as Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, 42, of Atlanta, who worked at an Atlanta public charter school (see the update below). Cobb County Police’s Major Crimes Unit is investigating, NBC News reported, and the park said it wouldn’t release details yet “out of respect for the family’s privacy.”
What happened on the Goliath roller coaster?
The incident happened just before 4 p.m. at the park, about 10 miles west of downtown Atlanta. Several riders told NBC’s Atlanta station, WXIA, that they watched a man leave his seat and strike the ride as he fell. “He fell and hit the car three different times,” one witness said. Riders said he hit other people on the coaster before landing on the roof of a haunted house attraction below.
“The man started levitating in the air sideways,” said Logan Conner, who was on the ride with his fiancée. “We made direct eye contact with him.” Nicholas Mendenhall, who’d ridden with his son 10 minutes earlier, told TODAY: “He came up out of his car, he was in his seat, and went forward and just came down head first.” One witness said the man had been riding with a young boy who appeared to be his son, while a woman and a young girl watched from the ground.
The coaster stopped mid-ride, and staff walked the remaining riders down a steep incline, four at a time, WSB-TV reported. It isn’t yet clear how the four other people were hurt.
Which Six Flags rides are closed now?
“Out of an abundance of caution, we have temporarily closed similar attractions across our parks,” a Six Flags spokeswoman told WSB-TV. The company didn’t say when they’ll reopen. Besides Goliath in Georgia, if you’ve got tickets this week, these nine are down:
- Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America (Illinois)
- Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain (California)
- Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure (New Jersey)
- Fury 325 and Thunder Striker at Carowinds (North Carolina)
- Orion and Diamondback at Kings Island (Ohio)
- Leviathan and Behemoth at Canada’s Wonderland (Ontario)
They’re all tall, fast coasters in the same family as Goliath. Georgia’s Goliath, built by the Swiss firm Bolliger & Mabillard, opened in 2006 with a drop of more than 200 feet and speeds of at least 70 mph, which makes it what the industry calls a hyper coaster.
Has Six Flags had other ride safety problems this year?
Yes. In September, Six Flags was named in several lawsuits from riders who say they suffered brain injuries on X2, a spinning coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Southern California. X2 has been closed since July, and the park said on Sept. 29 that it was retiring the ride because “it’s the right thing to do” after guest confidence was shaken, NBC reported.
“We are deeply saddened by the guest incident at our park today,” Six Flags said Monday. “Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the guest’s family, friends, and loved ones.”
Update, Oct. 13: Cobb County police identified the man as Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, 42, of Atlanta. “Preliminary information gathered through witness and employee interviews indicates Kariem was ejected from the ride and struck other patrons before falling beneath the attraction,” police said Tuesday, ABC News reported. Officers found him under the ride around 3:58 p.m., unresponsive and not breathing.
Atlanta Public Schools said Kariem worked at Wesley International Academy, a K-8 public charter school, where the school’s website lists him as IT manager. “He was a cherished member of the Wesley International Academy and APS families whose presence and impact will be deeply missed by our students, staff, and all those whose lives he touched,” the district said, NBC reported.
Georgia’s Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire, which inspects amusement rides in the state, said it is “actively investigating” and conducting “an in‑depth and comprehensive review.” Goliath’s Swiss manufacturer, Bolliger & Mabillard, said it was “deeply saddened” and is investigating too. The park was already scheduled to be closed Tuesday, and one of Goliath’s trains was still sitting where it stopped on the lift hill, the AP reported.
Update, Oct. 13, afternoon: Six Flags stock fell as much as 16% on Tuesday, Yahoo Finance reported, and the company said it has no timeline for reopening the closed coasters. In Montreal, La Ronde, which Six Flags ran until this spring, shut down its own Goliath as a precaution until it hears from the manufacturer, CBC News reported.
The BeezLoop Take
Closing nine sister coasters was the right call, and it also tells you something: Six Flags doesn’t yet know whether this was a problem with the ride, the restraint or something else entirely. Until investigators say, nobody should guess, and that includes the company.
What riders deserve is a straight answer, and fast. Millions of people get on these coasters trusting that a lap bar holds no matter what. After the X2 lawsuits and now a death in front of a man’s family, Six Flags can’t treat this as a quiet internal review.
The open question: will Six Flags and investigators make the cause public, or will families have to learn it from a lawsuit?
Sources: NBC News · WSB-TV · WSB-TV (ride closures) · Fox News · NBC News (video)
