Just two weeks after Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia permanently shut down its X2 roller coaster, the amusement park has temporarily closed its Goliath coaster after a rider was killed and several others were injured at its Six Flags theme park in Georgia.
Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, 42, was riding the Goliath coaster on Oct. 12 when he was thrown from his seat and struck other riders. Kariem was an IT manager, technology teacher and robotics coach at the Wesley International Academy, a public charter school in Atlanta.
It’s currently unknown how he fell out of his seat.
A day after the incident, a spokesperson for Six Flags announced that nine other roller coasters similar to Goliath in the company’s other theme parks would also be temporarily closed “out of an abundance of caution.” This includes the coaster at Magic Mountain that shares the same name – which is taller and faster than its Georgia counterpart, based on information from the Roller Coaster Database.
“We are deeply saddened by the guest incident at our park today,” the spokesperson said, who added that park staff and local authorities responded immediately and that the park is cooperating fully with the investigation.
The Doan Law Firm, which tallies amusement park accidents and represents victims, found that this is the seventh reported death to take place within the Georgia theme park, two of them occurring from the Batman: The Ride roller coaster – one was a 58-year-old groundskeeper who was hit in the head by one of the rider’s legs, and the other was a 17-year-old teenager who hopped the fence and was decapitated by the attraction’s train.
The recent round of closures follows Six Flags shuttering X2 in Valencia on Sept. 29 after years of reported injuries. In July, two female riders suffered from severe brain hemorrhages in the span of a week, which caused the park to close the ride for two months before it became permanent.
A month prior, the theme park settled a wrongful death lawsuit after the Hawley family, who lost their 22-year-old son Christopher after he, his brother Alex and their cousin went on the ride in 2022.
Alex described X2 as exceptionally rough, and said in previous media interviews that it jerked them aggressively and ended with a violent jolt, jarring the three young men 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.
He was taken by paramedics to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia, where he underwent brain surgery. 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.
According to the Doan Law Firm, there have been nine reported deaths at Magic Mountain, including an incident in 2002 when a 28-year-old woman was riding Goliath when she suffered a fatal brain aneurysm, and another in 1978 when a woman was thrown from the Colossus roller coaster as it traveled downwards at 60 miles per hour.
