A man was ejected from the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia on Monday and fell to his death, prompting the amusement park company to temporarily close nine similar rides across North America. Police and a state agency that oversees ride inspections are investigating the incident.
The victim has been identified as Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, 42, an information technology manager at a public charter school.
Witnesses described a horrifying scene as the man appeared to hover above the coaster car before falling. "It looked like he was hovering because the car was moving underneath him," said Nick Mendenhall, who was watching the ride with his son. "It felt like slow-motion, but it happened in an instant."
The Goliath roller coaster, the park's tallest, uses lap bars for restraints, without seat belts.
Summer Bates, who was at the park with her family, saw the man fall. She recounted that her older children had expressed concerns about the security of their restraints on the same ride earlier in the day.
In the U.S., roller coasters and other rides at major amusement parks are not regulated by the federal government; oversight falls to individual states. Georgia’s Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner is conducting a review of the incident. In California, the state approves new and modified rides and either inspects them directly or relies on annual inspections by the owner. Florida exempts its largest theme parks from state safety inspections, with those parks conducting their own.
Federal regulation of amusement park rides has been a recurring issue, with U.S. Sen. Ed Markey repeatedly introducing legislation to alter federal law, which currently allows regulation of mobile rides but exempts major amusement parks. Industry representatives argue that serious injuries are rare and often result from riders not following rules.
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. also temporarily shut down similar coasters at six other theme parks in the U.S. and Canada, including another coaster named Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California, Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America in Illinois, and Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey.
The manufacturer of the coaster, Bolliger & Mabillard, a Swiss company, stated it is actively investigating the incident.