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.
I bet the family still gets a settlement or at least tries to.
The 17-year-old South Carolina teen who died was identified as Asia Leeshawn Ferguson, of Springfield, S.C.
Didn’t even make it to 18.
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.
Pleasant, huh?
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.
Somebody’s going to need counseling.
Being a former theme park employee, I know that the parks go to extremes to protect people. But there’s always going to be someone who is going to kill themselves through their own stupidity. Deaths involving rides are rare enough that they always make the national news, and most of those deaths are caused by customer mistakes, not operator error, mechanical failure, or design flaw. You are probably safer in the theme park than you are getting there. I firmly believe in “rider responsibility” as long as they have access to information about the ride and what kind of stresses it puts on the body.
This guy wasn’t even on the ride, though. He was trespassing. There was no excuse to go where he did, except to save someone else’s life.
Another example of how not following the rules can be deadly.
This story popped up on the news and I turned to my 6 yr old son and asked to please not be a stupid teen-ager. He promised he wouldn't. I guess this goes to show that even teen-agers still need an incredible amount of adult supervision.
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