Six Flags Death in Agawam, Mass

[DawnCt]

An article in the Hartford Courant, based on an eye witness account of 39 year old Faith Thomas indicates that the staff at Six Flags did not check to see if any of the T bars were secure. She tried to save Stanley Mordarsky. The Raymond, NH woman was sitting behind him on Saturday when the Bloomfield man popped up in his seat as the roller coaster approached the last turn. Thomsa, 39 who was hlding on to a fafety bar, said she let go and grabbed his shirt and suspenders and pulled him back into his seat. But seconds later, as the roller coaster was ripping through the turn, Mordarsky who was holding on t a bar lost his grip and popped up again. "I grabbed the waist belt area of his pants and thought, No, no, no, I was just praying the whole time. My eyes didn't leave him. I totally had him and then the force just pulled him away", Thomas said, weeping as she recalled the accident. She has been so traumatized by the death that she has been unable to return to work. Thomas and another witness blamed park employees for the accidnet, saying that they did not make sure that the riders were safely securedin their seats. Thomas said she was infuriated because on park official, whom she could not identify, called her earlier Tuesday and tried to persuade her to change a statement that she gave to investigators.

 

[mickeyboat]

Wow.

That poor woman. She must feel terrible. What a tragedy.

Denae

 

[kimber79]

Unbelievably sad........

 

[stinkerbelle]

I watched the news last night on Fox...they had a guy on there who was sitting 2 (maybe 3?) rows behind Stanely....he was riding with his daughter...

how traumatic...I'm glad the other riders are coming forward and pointing out were Six flags might have been in the wrong. (ie - not checking the left side of the coaster to ensure belt safety)

 

[DoeWDW]

This is so tragic and affects so many more people than the man who died and his family. I'm sure there are many people, including people on the ride at the time, onlookers, park employees, etc. who have agonized over this tragedy.

My prayers to all who were affected.

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Oh my gosh. That's one reason why I'm glad a lot of those rides at WDW and Universal will alert you that the lapbars, etc. are not properly locked. That poor family!

 

[Serena]

How horrible!

 

[Evil Princess]

Originally posted by Stepharoonie!
Oh my gosh. That's one reason why I'm glad a lot of those rides at WDW and Universal will alert you that the lapbars, etc. are not properly locked. That poor family!

That ride IS supposed to alert you if the lapbars aren't locked down properly.

If the ride op's didn't check the restraints before the coaster left the station, which is a bit weird, I've never seen that happen though it very well could, then it's their fault.

 

[tidoublegger]

Such a sad story....my DD 16 is going there 2 times this month for school trips! I will be telling her to stay off Superman! (if it's even reopened)

 

[castlegazer]

Thanks Dawn for the update. There was also a person sitting next to him. I haven't heard a report from that person. How absolutely horrific.

The report is due out soon - we'll know more shortly. I am supposed to be going this weekend. I had just bought season tickets when this happened.

 

[MelCald]

It is really weird that the employees weren't checking the restraint systems. We were there the weekend before the accident, for a cheerleading competition and dh and I were commenting on how thorough the employess were. We were only on the small kiddie rides, but it was taking so extremely long to load the rides. The workers were constantly checking the restraints and checking that the gates to get to the ride were closed properly. It seemed like overkill.
As an afterthought though..maybe the new employees work on the Kiddie rides, so they were still learning the ropes, and the more experienced ones are on the bigger rides (Superman) and just being lazy since they have done it so many times..who knows.