Man dies at Six Flags Elitch Gardens

I had a friend that saw this happen. The man jumped from about 40 feet in the air hit a tree and then fell to the pavement. She said it was horrible to watch. It is a very sad event.

And of course, morbid me, would have actually liked to have seen the event. Not that I want people to die or anything like that, but if it's going to happen, I'm curious as to what it looked like.
lata,
jeremy
--saying yet another thing to make people's jaws drop

Did he Jump or Fall. I am very confused. Because it would be hard to fall unless you were near the front or end.

It looked like they were testing it this morning when I passed the park. I doubt it was open but maybe, who knows.

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GO AVES!!! AVALANCH WILL REPEAT!!!

We received a note about this at work today, as we do with all accidents in the industry. Attatched was a printout from a Denver newspaper's website. Here are some answers to questions above that were included in the article:

1) The man in question had visited the park regularly for years, so much so that people at the park knew him. Therefore, I don't see why he'd be scared and want to get out of what one person said was his favorite ride.

2) He was "supervised", however, the person accompanying him I believe was said to have been on the ground with another mentally challenged person who presumably didn't want to ride.

3) A person in an adjacent seat did see what was going on, and tried to hold on to the man to keep him from falling when he climbed out of the restraints. Due to the motion and forces of the ride, she was unable to do so.

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"When I was growing up, we were taught something called manners. You'd understand that if you weren't such an idiot." - Jack Handey

When we were at Six Flags Over Texas last week, there was a large group of mentally challenged people walking around the park. As evidenced on the Discovery Channel shows with Elissa and Ian, rides can be terrifying enough for the person who's not mentally challenged. Throw somebody who's brain doesn't function correctly on a ride like Mr. Freeze or Titan, and you'd have someone who would be absolutely freaking out. I mean, if I could've broken out of the restraints on Ultra Twister and exited the ride, I would have. That ride terrified me.

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2002, the year the Six Flags America bashing stops.

"Mentally challenged" people (whoever they are) would likely benefit from the same restrictions posed to young children or under-height children. But what are you supposed to do if you work at the parks and you're the guy who gets to decide who goes on a ride or not, say, "um, excuse me sir, you wouldn't happen to be mentally challenged, would you?" I would think the task of this regulation would fall upon a guardian, if present, who accompanies the park guest and knows his/her individual capabilities and limitations.

*** This post was edited by ophthodoc on 5/28/2002. ***

No one knows why this man intentionally released himself from the restraints. But it wasn't because he was scared, he has a season pass the last three years to the park and this was said to be his favorite ride. It is really sad that we will never know why he did it.

This is the last ride I would expect there to be a death on, but at least it wasn't a ride malfunction as there probably would have been more injuries or deaths. I wonder what the fate of the ride will be.

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GO AVES!!! AVALANCH WILL REPEAT!!!

To answer Rubber Ducky, I think they will close it. It will disappear from the park maps. Then, it will stand idle for two years amidst rumors that it is "for sale." Then, when everyone's nice and confused, there will be scuttlebutt that it's going to be "remodified." Before you know it, it'll be mysteriously dismantled under cover of night and removed from the park, and we are all supposed to turn our heads the other way as if it the ride never was.

I see someone is still bitter about the Drachen Fire situation.

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Is it a dream or a memory? It's both, it's X

The only problem with creating rules against persons with mental handicaps is the Americans With Disabilities Act. If any park were to limit these rights you know that groups like the ACLU would be all over it in an instant. It almost seems like this could turn into a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' kind of situation. While this is very unfortunate, and my hearts go out to the family and friends of the individual, I do not believe that we are going to see any rules change because of this. I don't think that anyone knows what will happen with the ride yet, but it is my guess that it will be taken from the park.

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"Attention all Time Travel Commitee Members; the reasearch and development meeting will take place last friday at O-Three-Hundred hours. Do not be late."

This is a very sticky situation. Mustang has some very good points in his post. You can't place restrictions on mentally handicapped people without a harsh battle, even if it is for their own good. I do think that maybe severly mentally handicapped people should maybe have minor restrictions placed on them, like maybe having to be accompanied by someone of a much better mental state or something of that type, but it'll be a battle just to get a rule like that in. It's being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

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"You can't kill what's stronger than death" - Zakk Wylde

First of all, don't think the ride will be removed from the park. There have been plenty of rides where people have broken out of restraints, and the ride still runs today, i.e. Shockwave at PKD. Second of all, don't be bitter about the removal of Drachen Fire. It suffered from low ridership. Parks need to keep guest spending money in all areas of the park, not just some. I was told this is the reason that Joker's Revenge is SBNO at Fiesta Texas.
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2002, the year the Six Flags America bashing stops.

Getting rid of a coaster and getting rid of a flat ride are two different things. A park is not as willing to get rid of a coaster as a flat ride. In 1997, a ride op died on Sidewinder, but that is still there. In this situation it could go either way, because he did freely release himself from the restraints, however just the fact that there was a death could detur(spelling?) guests from riding it. Maybe they will wait to see if the popularity of the ride continues, and if it decreases get rid of it. I could careless what they do with the ride, it has just been a bad week for SF.

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GO AVES!!! AVALANCH WILL REPEAT!!! *** This post was edited by RubberDucky on 5/29/2002. ***

I was just wacthing 7 news and they said that SFEG is considering re-opening the ride today after it was concluded that all the restraints were working properly. So maybe the ride will stay around.

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