While it was previously reported that the Hawley family would be taking Six Flags Magic Mountain to court in a wrongful death lawsuit after 22-year-old Christopher suffered a fatal brain injury following a ride on the X2 roller coaster, a settlement was reached on Aug. 26.
The court date was scheduled for Sept. 8 at the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Chatsworth, but it will no longer take place. The terms and details of the settlement have not been disclosed to the public.
Attorneys representing the family from Wisner Baum LLP, a Los Angeles-based law firm, had filed the suit against the park operator, Magic Mountain LLC, and the replacement coaster train supplier, S&S Worldwide Inc. But on that Wednesday, attorneys submitted court filings confirming a settlement had been reached and was being formalized.
The lawsuit concerned the incident on June 23, 2022, when Christopher went to Six Flags with his younger brother, Alex, and their cousin. The trio had just come off the X2 ride – a 4th-dimensional roller coaster designed with 360-degree rotating seats that move independently as the ride travels through intense head-first, face-down drops and inversions, reaching up to 76 miles per hour.
Alex described the ride as exceptionally rough. In previous media interviews, he said it jerked passengers aggressively and ended with a violent jolt, jarring the three boys in their seats.
After exiting the ride, Alex said that his brother walked “haltingly” down the ramp, using a handrail for support. His face was red, and he mumbled that his head hurt. Christopher then slumped to the ground and fell into unconsciousness.
It was around 4 p.m. when Anne Hawley, his mother, got a call from Alex. At first, she assumed he was just checking in, but she quickly noticed the fear in his voice. He then told her that Christopher had collapsed and wasn’t waking up.
“I didn’t know what to think,” Anne recounted. “I just remember telling Alex, ‘I’m sure he will [wake up]. He’s going to be OK.’ I never thought in my mind that he got hurt from a ride. I figured he must have passed out, but … I didn’t think it’d be the devastating news that it became.”
Paramedics transported Christopher to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia. His parents made the roughly two-hour journey from their home in Garden Grove, getting updates from Alex and his cousin along the way.
When they arrived in the emergency room, the parents were told by a neurosurgeon that Christopher was having brain surgery and that he had been hurt from riding the roller coaster.
“We didn’t get more information until the surgeon came out and told us that he tried his best, but the bleeding would not stop, and Christopher was not going to make it,” Anne said.
He passed away the following day. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner ruled his death an accident caused by blunt head trauma sustained in a park ride accident. A CT scan showed he suffered a catastrophic right subdural hematoma.
The news was devastating. Christopher had just graduated from San Diego State University with a bright future. He had a passion for water sports, including sailing and wakeboarding.
Anne described her son as a warm and caring person – someone who loved doing things as a family and was the epitome of a person who enjoyed life.
“He was just a joy, always willing to do things with us and for us,” Anne said. “Something that I miss about him is just the way he would laugh and find joy in things. If I were ever taking myself too seriously, he would have a way of laughing me out of it. … That was Christopher.”
A History of Incidents
Six Flags Magic Mountain, which sees an average of 3 million guests each year, is no stranger to controversy or injuries. Dating back to 1978, a rider fell from the Colossus roller coaster, shutting the ride down for a year. Also in 1978, a couple fell 50 feet to the ground from a park gondola.
In 2014, the front car of the roller coaster Ninja hit a tree limb on the track, causing the front car to detach, leaving 22 passengers suspended 40 feet above the air for around three hours; four people sustained minor injuries.
Most recently, on July 5, the Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to a call about an unconscious passenger on X2. To date, park officials have not commented on the incident. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) opened an investigation into the ride and, since July 12, X2 has remained closed. X2 is described as the park’s most intense roller coaster that is “downright scary,” and “carefully designed to keep you in total sensory overload the entire ride.”
Editor Diana Martinez contributed to this article.