Woman dies of heart attack on PKI's Top Gun

Posted Wednesday, July 30, 2003 9:38 AM | Contributed by supermandl34

Karen Krekeler died Friday after suffering a heart attack on Top Gun at Paramount's Kings Island. A preliminary autopsy report showed that Karen Krekeler's heart may have been enlarged and the excitement of the ride, coupled with high blood pressure, may have caused the heart attack.

Read more from WLWT.

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jdancisin

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 9:46 AM
What a sad story :(
My sympathies to the family

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Mac Forever.

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Coasterr

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 11:27 AM
*shakin head*

I almost got teary eyed just reading that report. Very sad story, indeed. Heart definitely goes out to the family and especially, her young son who had to witness that.

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100th coaster....Dania Beach Hurricane!

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Jeff

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 11:55 AM
Jeff's avatar
The description of the way the kid reacted, being so young to not really understand what was going on, that's pretty heartbreaking.

It's strange that this kind of thing kills so many people. A kid I went to high school with died of a heart attack, also had an enlarged heart, shortly after graduating while playing basketball.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

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Crashmando

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 1:03 PM
Very sad. My thoughts go out to the family. Lets all hope that no lawyer get involved.

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Jeff Finazzo

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 1:20 PM
This is a shame. I feel so bad for her kid. I wonder if she was even aware of the condition she had. I doubt she would have ridden if she had known about it.
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Jeff-Jeff
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Chitown

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 1:20 PM
Watching the video made me get even more teary-eyed. Very sad time for the family and friends of the woman.

I was just on Top Gun for the first time this last Wednesday with my 8-year old daughter. It now makes me think that something could happen at anytime without warning.

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Josh Gould

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 2:54 PM
*snifs*
thats pretty sad, my love goes to the family.

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Chadley

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 3:55 PM
My thoughts and prayers go out to the Krekeler family. I'm sorry! I could not imagine having my daughter go through that...ever! Mr. Krekeler's words certainly do not fall on deaf ears. It's a great reminder to us all about how our lives get way too busy at times, and we forget the things and people so close to us. You're in our prayers.
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kRaXLeRidAh

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 4:12 PM
What a horrible tragedy. Four young children left behind. I think it is safe to say the two boys under the age of 10 will grow up with a fear of coasters. "Mom died on one".
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CP ismyhome

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 4:23 PM
How sad. My thoughts and prayers are with the family and especially with the seven year old boy who witnessed the tragic event.

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Keep your Arms Down, Head back, and Hold On!*** This post was edited by CP ismyhome 7/30/2003 4:24:09 PM ***

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nasai

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 5:54 PM
nasai's avatar
Well. That sucks. Her poor little boy. All I could picture was my own childrens' pain if this happened to my wife or I. My thoughts certainly go out to her family.
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Death on two legs
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Sean Flaharty

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 8:44 PM
This is horrible news. I was at the park that day and was in line for Son of Beast with some friends when we noticed Top Gun quit running. Once we rode Son of Beast and were walking down the exit ramp, we saw a park medic team rushing down towards the ride station.

Since it was very hot outside, we just had thought someone had passed out while standing in line as the park was pretty crowded that day. Never would I have thought something like this would have happend.

-Sean

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Jeff

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 11:10 PM
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The worst thing about it is that it takes forever to get down there. That's a long walk.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

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OrientExpressKid

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 11:22 PM
I was there too that day. Didn't find out what happened (why the ride was closed). Quite the shame. It's stuff like this that worries me about my black out spells.

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coasterqueenTRN

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 11:30 PM
coasterqueenTRN's avatar
That walk is kind of brutal at times, especially in the heat.

My prayers and wishes also go out to the Krekeler family. I am surprised I just heard about it this morning reading this thread. I still can't believe it happened. :-(

So sad.

-Tina

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Gimme speed, height, airtime and plenty of LAUNCH!!!*** This post was edited by coasterqueenTRN 7/30/2003 11:32:03 PM ***

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jrhodes07

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 11:55 PM
this is sad news for the industry, company, and family. I feel sorry for them and all, but this is why they put these kind of signs up warning you of the risk and if youve had certain problems, but people just ignore it. If she would have read the sign properly and acted properly this kind of situation could have been avoided. Now she makes it hard on everybody else. Nonetheless, My prayers go out to the Krekeler family and this is a huge tragedy
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redman822

Thursday, July 31, 2003 9:11 AM
jrhodes,

Did you ever take into consideration that SHE DIDN'T KNOW she had the condition?

Some people really need to pull their head out of their ***** before they open their mouths.

If you couldn't guess, people like you jrhodes really piss me off. A woman died and all you care about is that her death (which wasn't directly due to the ride) "makes it hard on everybody else."

AAARRRRGH!

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--George H
---Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)
*** This post was edited by redman822 7/31/2003 9:14:47 AM ***

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Jeff

Thursday, July 31, 2003 9:20 AM
Jeff's avatar
Stupid post of the month award goes to jrhodes07. Nice going!

A sign doesn't warn of you a problem you don't know you have.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

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Dane186

Thursday, July 31, 2003 10:01 AM
Yes this is a very sad story, it was also in the paper this mourning too. But I knew on Friday.

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Dane
Staff PKIUnlimited.com
www.PKIUnlimited.com

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