A wrongful death lawsuit alleges that a Six Flags Magic Mountain rollercoaster was so rough that it caused a fatal brain injury in a 22-year-old man. Christopher Hawley, of Garden Grove, California, died in June 2022, the day after riding the X2 roller coaster at the park, according to the suit.
His family claims in the lawsuit, obtained by Fox, that Hawley collapsed after riding the attraction and was noticeably unwell. He reportedly told family members that the ride was rough and jerked passengers aggressively. The suit contends that he suffered massive head and brain damage from the ride, which ultimately resulted in his death.
The LA County Medical Examiner later ruled that Hawley, a college graduate, died as a result of blunt head trauma. His younger brother, Alex, who was on the ride with him, described it as violent, with a sudden stop that slammed their heads into the headrests.
"It was very rough. It just jerked us. It just jerked us all around. It just jolted us all the way forward and then our heads just swung all the way back into the headrest," Alex Hawley recounted to Fox.
According to his brother, Christopher's face turned red after stepping off the attraction before he suddenly collapsed. Emergency services transported him to a nearby hospital, where he died from his injuries the following day.
Christopher's father, William, stated that a surgeon compared his son's injuries to shaken baby syndrome, a severe form of head trauma caused by sudden, forceful movements that result in brain swelling, bruising, and bleeding. "The surgeon had said, he likened it to shaken baby syndrome, that the ride hit his head so hard that it had basically ruptured his brain," William Hawley said.
His mother, Anne, described the devastation, saying, "We went from a family of four to a family of three in an instant. It's devastating. It is a piece of us that is gone forever."
Last month, the X2 ride was involved in a separate incident where a rider was found unconscious, leading to the park temporarily closing the attraction for a month, according to KTLA. A jury trial for the wrongful death suit is scheduled to begin in September, with the family seeking compensatory damages, according to SCV.
The family's attorney, Timothy Loranger, emphasized the responsibility of theme park operators. "If you're going to operate that and you're going to invite the public to ride as passengers, you have to take every step that you possibly can to ensure that they're going to be safe, that they are not going to suffer an injury that could potentially kill them," Loranger told Fox.
An obituary for Christopher Hawley described him as someone who "found joy in everything and in everyone around him. He was a bright light in this world and was always so positive and kind."