Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem was 42 and had gone to Six Flags Over Georgia in Austell to celebrate his niece’s birthday.
According to a family member quoted by ABC News, he was sitting next to her on the Goliath roller coaster. On Monday, October 12, Cobb County police reported that he was thrown from the ride, struck other visitors, and fell beneath the structure. A witness told NBC that they saw the man “levitating sideways” in the air; another visitor, who was waiting in line to ride again, initially thought it was a bag. Several other people were injured, although authorities have not detailed their condition.
He lived in Atlanta and worked for the city’s public schools: he was an IT manager, technology teacher, and robotics coach at Wesley International Academy, where he had worked for more than 12 years. After the incident, Six Flags temporarily closed nine similar roller coasters in North America, and less than two weeks later, its CEO announced that it would install seat belts on Goliath and other rides with similar restraints. The cause of the ejection remains under investigation.
