▶ Watch Video: 1 dead, several injured in Six Flags Over Georgia roller coaster incident
One person has died and several others are injured after an incident on one of Six Flags Over Georgia’s roller coasters on Monday, officials have confirmed. A witness described seeing the man fall out of his seat near the end of the ride.
The Cobb County Police Department said it happened shortly before 4 p.m. at the park.
“Several people were reported injured, and one person has died,” the police department said in a statement.
While the agency did not give specifics about which roller coaster the incident involved, CBS News Atlanta cameras saw that the park’s Goliath ride had shut down, and guests were being evacuated from the ride’s largest hill via an emergency stairway.
Details about the situation remain limited, and authorities have not released the guest’s identity. In a statement, a spokesperson for Six Flags said the company was “deeply saddened” by the incident.
“Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the guest’s family, friends, and loved ones. We are also providing support to the guests and team members affected,” the spokesperson said. “The park team and local authorities responded immediately, and we are cooperating fully with local authorities as they complete their investigation.”
Park visitor Nick Mendenhall said he and his son had just ridden the Goliath and he was standing nearby when he saw the man fall from the ride.
“I literally see this man come straight up out of his seat and it looked like he went forward in the car,” he said. “It was literally the closest you could have possibly been to where it happened in the park on the ground. … I saw him come up. I saw them land back in the car. Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion.”
He said it happened as the train car came over the top of a hill near the end of the ride.
“It looked like he went forward, and as the car came back down … he went head first,” Mendenhall said.
Connor Thompson, a visitor from Utah, says he was waiting in line for the Goliath roller coaster when the cars returned.
“As soon as the train came in, I knew something was wrong. There was people yelling and clearly distressed,” he said.
“There was someone who was yelling, ‘Call 911, someone fell out.’ And at first it was almost like I didn’t believe it because I thought that was like impossible for something like that to happen,” Thompson said. “But then sure enough, I looked over and the seat, I believe it was like one or two away from him, it looked to me like the restraint was unlatched.”
Sherry Sutton says her children rode the Goliath ride only about 20 minutes before the incident happened. She says people left the park in a calm, orderly fashion when an announcement over the park’s loudspeakers said that Six Flags was closing.
“When we first got the announcement, it was kind of like one person began to move and they said, ‘Did you hear that? And everybody was like, ‘No.’ And they was like, ‘ Did you hear that? And everybody was like, ‘No, what did they say? And then, very faintly under the Six Flags music, you heard somebody say, ‘Please leave. The park is now closed.'”
Lisa Cupid, Cobb County Board of Commissioners chairwoman, said next of kin of the deceased person have been notified.
“I cannot imagine the horror the patrons and employees witnessed today, and my heart aches for the family who lost a loved one,” Cupid said. “We are all grappling with how something so devastating could happen at a place that has given generations of families such happy memories.”
Mableton Mayor Michael Owens said the city’s public safety director is coordinating with Cobb County police and the park about the situation.
The park is a major part of the county’s tourism and brings in visitors from across the Southeast, Cupid said.
The death would be at least the seventh at the Georgia park, including one in 2006 in which a man had a likely heart attack on the Goliath coaster, according to the Doan Law Firm, which tallies amusement park accidents and represents victims.
First opened in 2006, the Goliath reaches a top height of 200 feet — the largest in the park — and drops 170 feet down at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour.
Last month, the company announced it would be permanently closing its X2 roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California. The closure comes amid multiple lawsuits alleging that more than 100 riders were left with brain injuries connected with the ride. Six Flags temporarily closed nine roller coasters across six amusement parks on Monday.
