Decapitation at SFoG

Kinda hate to make my first post such a downer, but just ran across this:

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/28/person-decapitated-at-theme-park/

If true, this is really going to hurt Sigflag's reputation even worse than the SFKK incident, even if it was rider fault. I checked and didn't see the story picked up anywhere else yet - perhaps (hopefully) it's incorrect?

Update, checked a few ATL news sites, appears some people got into a restricted area and one got hit by Batman the Ride. Looks like guest stupidity and not any failures by the park. Still sucks. *** Edited 6/28/2008 8:53:20 PM UTC by metallik***

Sad, its like Top Gun all over again...

The FOX affiliate is saying he was with a church group and several boys went into the restricted area under Batman...trying to jump up and grap the legs of overhead passengers.

So very tragic.

^ It's not tragic. I don't feel sorry whatsoever for this boy. The Darwin Award winner for Summer 2008. The girl who had her legs sliced off on Superman Tower of Power --- now that's tragic.

Anybody that jumps a fence that's marked "RESTRICTED AREA" and then attempts to grab the legs of riders on a passing roller coaster deserves whatever happens to them. The victim's (for lack of a better word, because he's not a victim of circumstance) friends should be prosecuted.

Article that wahoo skipper is referring to: http://tiny.cc/16VXR *** Edited 6/28/2008 9:14:55 PM UTC by CoasterBGW***

Death sucks regardless of whose fault it was, but it's reassuring to see this was not due to park negligence. You just can't stop pure stupidity, no matter how hard you try. Darwinism, indeed.

(note, to see the fox article, you have to manually append the last ".1.1" to the URL)

Another article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

If the boy was your child (whom you likely were not with on this church trip), or grandchild, or brother, or neighbor my guess is that you would consider this tragic regardless of the "Darwin" factor.

More details:

- The boy was 17 years old, his family was there at the park too.

- The "decapitation" is not confirmed. He was killed instantly when struck in the head by a passing train (no one on the ride was injured).

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wahoo skipper said:
If the boy was your child

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Luckily, he isn't. I'm not saying I don't have empathy for his family or loved-ones who are surely going to be devastated by this, but I think calling this a tragedy is pretty misplaced.

If anything, it's a miracle nobody else got hurt.

"...deserves whatever happens to them."

Ok, forget tragedy. He got what was coming to him. In fact, let's drag his body through the park, nail him to the "rules" sign out front and tell people, "here is what happens if you break the rules."

A 17 year old died in an amusement park. People were likely around to witness it. I stand by my earlier comment:

So very tragic.

Tragic? Not in my book. Sad, Unfortunate, unneccesary....absolutely. (and entirely 100% preventable)

My dad always said we all do stupid things at times, and no one deserves to die for doing something stupid. But, with that being said, and with all do sympathy to the deceased's family, I am also with the "What the hell was he doing and what do you expect when you do something like that" mindset.

If I choose to drive 100mph down the wrong side of the highway for a thrill or a joke I run a high risk of getting killed or killing someone and it would be no-one's fault but my own for choosing to do something so dangerous.

You know what else blows my mind? This is the second time this exact same thing has happened on this coaster and the third time the exact same thing has happened in the US. *** Edited 6/28/2008 10:36:27 PM UTC by Peabody***

So, I'm walking through the park with my two kids and we are watching the antics of the roller coasters. Suddenly some knucklehead boys jump a couple of fences and one of them is killed in a spectacularly ugly scene as we watch in disbelief and horror.

So, we say to ourselves, "damn...that sure was stupid. Who is up for an elephant ear?"

Now, you all call it what you want to. I call it tragic. I suspect the onlookers, the train riders, etc felt the same way.

Sometimes I have a complete lack of understanding of people here.

No one says it's a good thing. No one says it probably wasn't horrific. I'm sure it would scar just about everyone who saw it (I sure wouldn't want to see it). But, the person made a stupid decision and died. It wasn't an accident, wasn't a malfunction. Sad, but, there's only one place for blame to go in this one, unlike SFKK.

I'm probably wrong for the textbook definition of the word tragic, but I personally think of it for something that heppened to someone or something beyond their control.

*** Edited 6/28/2008 10:55:34 PM UTC by Peabody***

This accident has my head spinning. How could this happen with all the warnings out there about ride saftey, and, lecture after lecture from the news media, about just how dangerous it is to go anywhere near any object moving at high speeds.

This is just like the chicken dares you see near schools, where teenagers will hide behind park cars or trees along a road, and really quick run out into the road as soon as the next car comes along, to see if they can dodge the car before it gets to them. Or, if the car will have to swurve to miss them. usually someone ends up dead. Happens all the time.

My question is. Was anyone watching these kids? Who saw them jump the fence? And, how long were they under the coaster before the boy was killed?

It seems to me, if he were trying to get an item he lost, someone should have had enough sense to talk him out of it. But, since all the kids involved were obviously under the coaster, it was more than likely a dare gone wrong.

Either way, how could you assume that approaching a running rollercoaster, with trains that travel at 50 miles an hour, might possibly be safe to get under for any reason? Even the ride operators and park management are smart enough to shut the ride down before they venture under it.

might as well step out in front of train, if you think you aren't going to get somehow injured, no matter how smart you think you are.

I'm stumped on this one.

It wasn't an accident, wasn't a malfunction. Sad, but, there's only one place for blame to go in this one, unlike SFKK.

Agreed, and yet I bet come Monday morning a lawyer on behalf of the deceased's family will be fliing a lawsuit claiming the park is to blame for not doing more to keep the kids from entering a restricted area and, once they were inside of it, not doing more to stop the train from hitting them.

Peabody, I REALLY hope that quote of Adamforce's was a joke. Please tell me it was. Hehehehehehehehe....

I think that while it IS a tragedy that a young boy died, it seems as though this really was a case of thinning the herd. I mean, come on now! If you're sophisticated enough to be at a Six Flags park, you're probably also sophisticated enough to remember the countless deaths from rider/guest stupidity, or even just from maintenance workers working on the rides while the ride was in motion. Even before I rode coasters, I remember hearing about the decapitation at Morey's Piers because a ride maintenance man was in the way. My heart goes out to the family and friends for having lost a loved one, but as for the way this boy died? I don't really have a ton of sympathy.

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bunky666 said:
If you're sophisticated enough to be at a Six Flags park, you're probably also sophisticated enough to remember the countless deaths from rider/guest stupidity, or even just from maintenance workers working on the rides while the ride was in motion.

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Well, no. First of all, these sorts of things aren't "countless," they're actually what I would call extremely rare and very countable.

Second, being at Six Flags does not imply a keen awareness of those accidents, nor does it really imply much sophistication in my book. Just witness how many people struggle with buckling a seat belt or "push down pull up" ! :)

I'm not taking much issue with the spirit of your post or anything but really. There's a million things that are involved with

"Reasons To Not Get Under A Moving Roller Coaster"

and knowledge of previous accidents is like...#247 on the list. #1 being it's a massive, multi-ton vehicle moving along at 50 mph. I mean if you can't fathom that, first and foremost, I don't think knowledge of a dead mechanic at Lake Compounce is going to help in the slightest.

Mamoosh is dead on. I remember the guy who died at PGA only spoke like portuguese and his family sued becuse he couldn't read the signs. (Apparently the big giant fences didn't mean anything)

If there were electric fences, guard dogs, signs in every language spoken and a light beam that if broken changed gravity and instantly stopped the train safely that still wouldn't be good enough for the lawyers.

What's the difference between a catfish and a lawyer? One's a disgusting, bottom-feeding scum-sucker.....and the other one's a fish.

No, I can see what you mean about knowledge of previous events not being a #1 factor. Even knowing a coaster weighs tons and travels super fast might not be a number one factor. If nothing else, this guy should have paid attention to the rules. Period. Those signs and fences are up for a reason, and when people fail to pay attention to those things, these fatalities happen.

I'm betting on a week for the lawsuit to occur. The fences weren't high enough, Six Flags didn't do enough to keep him out, they didn't get to him soon enough after the accident...they'll find something.