Boy decapitated by roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia

[Miss Mia]

Boy decapitated by roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia
Victim from Springfield, S.C., identified


The popular "Batman the Ride" rollercoaster at Six Flags Over Georgia remained closed Sunday while authorities continued investigating the death of a teenager who jumped over two fences and was struck by the ride.

The 17-year-old South Carolina teen who died was identified as Asia Leeshawn Ferguson, of Springfield, S.C. He was on a church outing when the incident occurred about 2 p.m. Saturday. It was the second Batman ride-related death at the Cobb County park.

According to police and the amusement park, Ferguson and a friend climbed over two 6-foot fences -- a wrought-iron style park perimeter fence and a second chainlink fence around the Batman ride -- as a shortcut to get back into the park after lunch. Signs about 40 to 50 feet apart on the outer fence warn that it is a "restricted area" for "authorized personnel only."

According to park officials, a sign on a locked gate at the chain link fence also reads "Danger zone" and "Do not enter."

Ferguson was decapitated when the ride struck him, police said.

"It is still unclear why the two men were trying to gain access to this unauthorized area," park spokeswoman Hela Sheth told reporters Saturday, reading from a prepared statement.
*snip*

Darwin Award winner clearly.

[DixieBelle]

Oh God! I was reading about this online.

Can you imagine how messed up that other kid will be now? Only one of them got killed but two of them entered the restricted area. I can't find anything online about the other kid. I would be messed up for the rest of my life!

And can you imagine how that first responder felt? This is the stuff of horror movies. I can't imagine.....

[djones520]

Oh God! I was reading about this online.

Can you imagine how messed up that other kid will be now? Only one of them got killed but two of them entered the restricted area. I can't find anything online about the other kid. I would be messed up for the rest of my life!

And can you imagine how that first responder felt? This is the stuff of horror movies. I can't imagine.....

Could you imagine being that person in the front seat?

I myself don't have much sympathy for that kid.  Natural selection at work right there.  They put those signs and fences up for a reason...

[Miss Mia]

I was the supervisor of customer service (park language:  Guest Relations) of Six Flags Over Texas when we had an accident that resulted in a death.  It was an accident, not just plain stupidity like this guy.  Really, at amusement parks they have signs saying restricted area for a reason. 

[DixieBelle]

Yeah, I bet it will only be a matter of time before we hear interviews from people on the ride and in the immediate area.

Oddly enough, I just finished reading an article about how there is no standard monitoring and safety testing for amusment park rides. There is a bill coming up to mandate federal oversight. How weird that I just threw that magazine away yesterday!

[Miss Mia]

Yeah, I bet it will only be a matter of time before we hear interviews from people on the ride and in the immediate area.

Oddly enough, I just finished reading an article about how there is no standard monitoring and safety testing for amusment park rides. There is a bill coming up to mandate federal oversight. How weird that I just threw that magazine away yesterday!

Yeah, it's a state by state issue.  Your standard amusement park, like Six Flags, is going to have a big onsite safety department.  At the park I worked at there was a morning inspection of each ride (the Texas Giant, a wooden roller coaster, they inspected each piece of wood every morning), plus at each hour there was another test run of the coasters.

The carnivals are where the majority of ride accidents happen.  I won't ride those traveling carnival rides. 

[djones520]

Just FYI, not sure if this is rumor or truth, but I was talking to some friends about this story yesterday and one of them said that the person had snuck back in to find his hat that he had dropped when he had been on the ride earlier.

[Chris_]

There was a girl here last year that had her feet ripped off after a cable snapped on the ride she was on. 

They managed to re-attach one of them.

[Miss Mia]

There was a girl here last year that had her feet ripped off after a cable snapped on the ride she was on. 

They managed to re-attach one of them.

Oh, I remember that story.  *shiver*

[Willow]

Boy decapitated by roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia
Victim from Springfield, S.C., identified


The popular "Batman the Ride" rollercoaster at Six Flags Over Georgia remained closed Sunday while authorities continued investigating the death of a teenager who jumped over two fences and was struck by the ride.

The 17-year-old South Carolina teen who died was identified as Asia Leeshawn Ferguson, of Springfield, S.C. He was on a church outing when the incident occurred about 2 p.m. Saturday. It was the second Batman ride-related death at the Cobb County park.

According to police and the amusement park, Ferguson and a friend climbed over two 6-foot fences -- a wrought-iron style park perimeter fence and a second chainlink fence around the Batman ride -- as a shortcut to get back into the park after lunch. Signs about 40 to 50 feet apart on the outer fence warn that it is a "restricted area" for "authorized personnel only."

According to park officials, a sign on a locked gate at the chain link fence also reads "Danger zone" and "Do not enter."

Ferguson was decapitated when the ride struck him, police said.

"It is still unclear why the two men were trying to gain access to this unauthorized area," park spokeswoman Hela Sheth told reporters Saturday, reading from a prepared statement.
*snip*

Darwin Award winner clearly.

Yes but, you can rest assured there will be a humondous lawsuit!

[Airwolf]

I was just going to say when are the lawyers going to run in and save us from the evil rollercoaster rides.

[Rebel]

I hope any lawsuit that ensues will be quickly shut down by a judge with some Damn common sense. It would be akin to a kid running in front of a car on an interstate, getting killed, and the parents suing the maker of the car or the driver. My sympathies are with the family, but puhleeze.

[Willow]

I hope any lawsuit that ensues will be quickly shut down by a judge with some Damn common sense. It would be akin to a kid running in front of a car on an interstate, getting killed, and the parents suing the maker of the car or the driver. My sympathies are with the family, but puhleeze.

here is my guess, "they didn't build the fences high enough"

[jendf]

Just FYI, not sure if this is rumor or truth, but I was talking to some friends about this story yesterday and one of them said that the person had snuck back in to find his hat that he had dropped when he had been on the ride earlier.

I guess he doesn't need the hat now. Okay, that was bad. Even for me.

But it does make me think of a local story here in Phoenix.

There is a small amusement park near my home that has a large roller coaster. Next to the amusement park is a canal. One year, the canal was drained and they found all sorts of things that officials presumed belonged to riders of the roller coasters. Among the items mentioned were dentures (!), toupees and wigs, hats, sunglasses, money, you name it. If it isn't tied down, it's probably going to disappear when you ride a roller coaster.

[Chris_]

Just FYI, not sure if this is rumor or truth, but I was talking to some friends about this story yesterday and one of them said that the person had snuck back in to find his hat that he had dropped when he had been on the ride earlier.

I woked at the amusement park here when I was HS.  That is usually the case -- people will drop stuff while they're on a ride and want it back.  All our rides were fenced off and you couldn't get back in except through a locked gate. 

[Miss Mia]

Just FYI, not sure if this is rumor or truth, but I was talking to some friends about this story yesterday and one of them said that the person had snuck back in to find his hat that he had dropped when he had been on the ride earlier.

I woked at the amusement park here when I was HS.  That is usually the case -- people will drop stuff while they're on a ride and want it back.  All our rides were fenced off and you couldn't get back in except through a locked gate.

And they only cleaned up under the rides after the park closes.  I'm not sure if they did it every day either.  There was always a huge stack of baseball hats.  I remember taking a complaint from a woman that was wearing these huge diamond earrings and she dropped one under the ride.     She wanted us to STOP everything and go find it.   

[Chris_]

Just FYI, not sure if this is rumor or truth, but I was talking to some friends about this story yesterday and one of them said that the person had snuck back in to find his hat that he had dropped when he had been on the ride earlier.

I woked at the amusement park here when I was HS.  That is usually the case -- people will drop stuff while they're on a ride and want it back.  All our rides were fenced off and you couldn't get back in except through a locked gate.

And they only cleaned up under the rides after the park closes.  I'm not sure if they did it every day either.  There was always a huge stack of baseball hats.  I remember taking a complaint from a woman that was wearing these huge diamond earrings and she dropped one under the ride.     She wanted us to STOP everything and go find it.   

I think the park just took their contact information and what ride it was, and let them know if it showed up.

[Chris_]

Just FYI, not sure if this is rumor or truth, but I was talking to some friends about this story yesterday and one of them said that the person had snuck back in to find his hat that he had dropped when he had been on the ride earlier.

I woked at the amusement park here when I was HS.  That is usually the case -- people will drop stuff while they're on a ride and want it back.  All our rides were fenced off and you couldn't get back in except through a locked gate.

And they only cleaned up under the rides after the park closes.  I'm not sure if they did it every day either.  There was always a huge stack of baseball hats.  I remember taking a complaint from a woman that was wearing these huge diamond earrings and she dropped one under the ride.     She wanted us to STOP everything and go find it.   

Oh good grief.     That woman deserved to lose those earrings.   There is no need to go to a theme park wearing such jewelry.

When it comes to valuables or items that easily break or fall off, I use the lockers that are offered.  I always do that at every theme park I'm at.   Glasses, purse, hat, etc.