Tragedy-struck theme park Six Flags Over Georgia is in the news again for reasons it would rather not be.
Earlier this week, a man named Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem lost his life while riding the site’s Goliath rollercoaster, which is obviously horrific enough, but the same thing nearly happened in the past to someone else.
An undated video is circulating on social media platform TikTok right now, depicting a young lad and his mates enjoying the hair-raising heights of Goliath, which reach as far up as 200 feet.
Posted by the account @jims_legacy, this edgy clip is captioned ‘My friend almost flew out his seat’.
Footage shows the lad being lifted from the base of his seat multiple times as the coaster tests gravity’s pull – the simple fact being that the safety straps holding him in place are not even close to tight enough.
Somehow, the unidentified adrenaline junkie doesn’t seem fazed by these non-stop close-calls, and neither do the people on either side of him.
Most comments beside the video would be best represented by a stern shake of the head, but a few other users seem to be arguing that it’s all to do with a thrilling phenomenon known labelled ‘airtime’.
“It’s called airtime. Completely normal by design,” argued one TikToker, referencing the heart-in-mouth affect rollercoasters can have on their riders.
“That restraint is NOT tight enough” and “You can look and see that his lap bar is further up than the others,” read a couple more reactions.
“They need shoulder restraints too”, “He’s literally flying out the seat” and “It is very clear they did not pull his restraint down far enough. It appears they need to retrain some of these workers,” wrote others.
Even if this particular Goliath fan purposely cranked his safety bar more forward than everyone else, he’s putting the reputation of Six Flags on the line.
LADbible has reached out to the company for comment.
The Goliath rollercoaster cost a man his life earlier this week (Six Flags Over Georgia)
As word of Mr. Kariem’s death made headlines just days ago, local mayor Michael Owens released a statement.
“Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the individual’s family, friends, and loved ones during this difficult time,” it read.
“Mableton Public Safety Director Dr. Kerry Stallings is coordinating with Cobb County Police and park security as the situation is addressed. We are grateful to the personnel responding to this incident and will continue to support coordination with the appropriate authorities.”
Meanwhile, witnesses have since opened up about the traumatic event via 11Alive.
One Six Flags Over Georgia visitor recalled: “We were ascending up and that is when we heard the screams. Then we looked down and saw people running and panicking.
“As soon as that happened, we got stuck. We didn’t know if it was a problem with ours [carriage] or something else. That stopped and we were stuck up there for more than an hour. As we were going up, the carriage behind us, that has to be the one, because that’s where everyone was running to. I am assuming they just stopped everything, and that’s what got us stuck.
“We were all obviously concerned, we saw the ambulances come and everyone running over to our rollercoaster, but the worst part was just being up there for an hour with no updates, no news, nothing.”
A separate account of the incident went like this: “A young Black male was ejected from the vehicle. The vehicle hit him, and then he flew back up again, and it hit him again.
“That’s when he was, I guess, flung from the ride.”
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