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Boy decapitated by roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia
By RHONDA COOK, MARCUS GARNER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/28/08
A 17-year-old South Carolina boy on an church outing was killed Saturday when he was struck by the popular "Batman the Ride" at Six Flags Over Georgia. It was the second Batman ride-related death at the Cobb County park.
According to the police and a statement from the amusement park, the boy and a friend climbed over two 6-foot fences -- the park perimeter fence and a second one surrounding the ride -- to get to the roller coaster. Park officials said there were numerous signs warning would-be intruders of the danger.
The victim was decapitated when the ride struck him, police said. The youth was not identified.
"The areas where the individuals entered were clearly marked with signs marked 'restricted area. Authorized personnel only,' and a sign on a locked gate that read 'Danger zone. Do not enter. Authorized personnel only," park spokeswoman Hela Sheth said to reporters, reading from a prepared statement.
"It is still unclear why the two men were trying to gain access to this unauthorized area," Sheth said. She declined to answer questions at an evening news conference and did not return several telephone messages seeking additional information.
The boy was with a group from Oakley Spring Baptist Church in Salley, S.C. He had been in Six Flags earlier in the day, but he and another boy left the park property to get some lunch, according to Cobb County police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce.
Rather than returning to the park through the regular entrance, the two boys took a shortcut, Pierce said.
"The area's clearly defined with signs," Pierce said. "It's very tragic that these individuals would decide to jump over the fence. It would be hard to imagine somebody not seeing the signs and jumping two fences."
No one on the ride was injured, Six Flags said in the statement. The boy's family was at the park at the time of the accident, according to the amusement park.
Pierce said there were many witnesses, and the county's 911 center was almost immediately flooded with calls from people reporting what they had seen.
The park's statement said one of the first to call for help was an Marietta police officer who had been in line for the Batman ride.
"Six Flags security and safety personnel responded immediately, and Cobb County Fire [Department] was on site just minutes after the incident occurred," Sheth said. "The medical examiner arrived on scene and confirmed that the 17-year-old male was killed instantaneously."
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family," she said.
The Batman ride was run briefly after the accident so police investigators could take measurements. It was closed to the public Saturday evening. The rest of Six Flags remained open. The park said the ride likely would resume operating on Monday.
Batman riders dangle beneath a track and travel up to 50 m.p.h., climbing and dropping the distance equal to an 11-story building and going through two vertical loops and two single corkscrews.
The first fatality involving the Batman ride in Georgia occurred six years ago.
A 58-year-old park worker, Samuel Milton Guyton of Atlanta, was killed May 26, 2002. Guyton was in a restricted area on a platform when he was kicked in the head by 14-year-old girl on the front car of the ride. The girl was hospitalized with a leg injury.
Over the years, several ride-related deaths have been reported at Six Flags parks nationwide.
Last March, a worker dismantling a ride at Six Flags Great America near Chicago fell 40-feet to his death. In 2004 at the same park, a maintenance worker was hit by a roller coaster and killed.
A 55-year-old disabled man was killed in May 2004 when he was thrown from a ride at Six Flags New England near Springfield, Mass. Five years ago, a grandmother strapping her 4-year-old grandson into Six Flags New Orleans' Joker's Jukebox ride was hit by a spinning car when the ride began operating before she was out of the way.
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Tragic accident today at Six Flags Over Georgia
