Man Ejected From Goliath Coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia as Six Flags Closes Nine More Rides

A 42-year-old Atlanta man was ejected from the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia on Monday afternoon and fell to his death, Cobb County police said, striking other park guests on the way down. Within hours, Six Flags had shut nine similar coasters at six of its other parks across the United States and Canada.

Man Ejected From Goliath Coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia as Six Flags Closes Nine More Rides

Mableton, Georgia — Police have not said what caused the ejection, and two state and county agencies are now investigating it. What is not in dispute is where the ride stopped, who was on it, and how quickly the company moved to close the same class of coaster everywhere else.

What Police Say Happened

Officers assigned to the park responded at approximately 3:58 p.m. Monday and found the man beneath the attraction, unresponsive and not breathing, according to the Cobb County Police Department. The department's Major Crimes Unit took over the investigation and, by Tuesday, had identified him as 42-year-old Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem of Atlanta. Police said preliminary interviews with witnesses and park employees indicated Kariem was ejected from the ride, struck other patrons as he came out of his seat, and fell beneath the coaster. His next of kin have been notified. The park sits just northwest of Atlanta and was open Monday for the Columbus Day holiday, a day when many school systems in the metro area begin fall break. Authorities have not released any information about the other guests who were struck.

Who Hassan Kariem Was

Kariem worked as the information technology manager at Wesley International Academy, an Atlanta public charter school serving kindergarten through eighth grade, and had previously been the school's technology teacher, according to an online resume and a confirmation from Atlanta Public Schools. His family told the local station WXIA that he was an educator. Police have not said whether he was riding alone or with family. Witnesses who spoke to the station said he appeared to be on the ride with his son, while his wife and daughter watched from the ground. The park said in a statement that its "thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the guest's family, friends, and loved ones."

What Witnesses Saw

The accounts from people on the ride and on the ground describe the same sequence. A couple riding Goliath told WXIA they saw the man strike the coaster three times. "He fell and hit the car three different times," one witness said, adding that he appeared in the souvenir photograph the ride takes mid-course. Another guest told WXIA the man fell onto a girl seated two rows ahead of her. Logan Conner told NBC that he was on Goliath with his fiancee when he saw Kariem come out of his seat, describing him as "levitating in the air sideways" before hitting the car repeatedly. Nicholas Mendenhall told TODAY that he had ridden the coaster with his son ten minutes earlier and watched the man fall "head first." Passengers in the car behind, stopped on a steep incline high above the ground, were evacuated down a stairway along the tracks at around 5 p.m.

The Ride, and the Restraints

Goliath opened at the Georgia park in 2006 and is a Bolliger & Mabillard hypercoaster, built in Switzerland: 4,480 feet of track, a 200-foot lift hill, a top speed of about 70 mph, and a ride of roughly 210 seconds. It is the park's tallest coaster and towers over the entrance. Its lap bar restraints pull down over a rider's legs and waist, and there are no seat belts. Goliath reaches its speed through steep drops rather than inversions, and it does not turn riders upside down. The park, which opened in 1967, is one of the largest in Georgia and one of the region's biggest tourism draws.

Nine More Coasters Closed

Six Flags Entertainment Corporation said it temporarily closed nine similar coasters at six of its other parks "out of an abundance of caution." The list runs from Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America in Illinois to Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, Fury 325 and Thunder Striker at Carowinds in North Carolina, Orion and Diamondback at Kings Island in Ohio, Leviathan and Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland in Ontario, and a second coaster named Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California. Counting the ride in Georgia, the local station FOX 5 reported ten coasters in total were closed. All but the Magic Mountain coaster, built by the now-defunct manufacturer Giovanola, were made by Bolliger & Mabillard. The manufacturer said it is "actively investigating the incident and will not comment further until we have a better understanding of what happened."

Two Agencies, One Open Question

Two bodies are examining the death. Cobb County's Major Crimes Unit is running the criminal investigation, and the department has asked anyone with information to call its tip line. Separately, Georgia's Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner, which oversees ride inspections at the state's amusement parks, said it was conducting "an in-depth and comprehensive review" and offered thoughts and prayers to those affected. Neither agency has said how the man left his seat, and neither has given a timeline for its findings. A Six Flags spokesperson said the park team and local authorities responded immediately and that the company is cooperating fully with the investigation.

A Park With the Fourth-Most Deaths

The Doan Law Firm, an Atlanta practice that tallies amusement park accidents and represents victims, says the death is the second connected to Goliath and either the seventh or the eighth at the Georgia park since 1989, depending on how the firm's tally is read; The Associated Press reported at least the seventh, while CBS News Atlanta reported the eighth. The earliest entry the firm lists is a boy on the park's now-closed Z-Force coaster in 1989, who was pronounced dead at a hospital of an undetermined cause. On July 27, 2006, a 45-year-old man was found unresponsive as his train returned to the station on Goliath, which had opened that year; the firm says it appeared he suffered a fatal heart attack and that the death was believed to be due to a congenital heart condition. The firm adds that Six Flags Over Georgia has reported the fourth-most deaths of any Six Flags park, behind Great Adventure, Kings Island and Magic Mountain.

The X2 Shadow

Monday's death landed while the company was already under scrutiny over ride safety. On Sept. 29, Six Flags Magic Mountain announced it would permanently close X2, its marquee attraction for nearly two decades, after a CNN investigation published in August documented more than a dozen reports of serious injuries and hospitalizations tied to the ride, including at least two deaths. CNN's reporting included two women who arrived at the same Santa Clarita emergency room with brain injuries after riding X2 six days apart in July. Three riders who suffered life-threatening injuries this year filed lawsuits in September; one, 26-year-old Naomi Greer-Wilkinson, remains in a coma. Brian Oerding, the park's president, wrote after the closure that X2 had "consistently passed a multitude of safety tests" but that the company had decided to close it because "we believe it's the right thing to do." Six Flags merged with Cedar Fair in 2024, becoming the largest amusement park operator in the United States.

A County Watching Its Biggest Attraction

Local officials moved quickly to signal they were taking the incident seriously. Lisa Cupid, the chairwoman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, said the county would work closely with the theme park and other partners as the investigation continues, and that Six Flags Over Georgia is "a significant part of our tourism landscape, drawing visitors from across our county, our state, and the Southeast." She added that, while the circumstances are not yet known, "we are all grappling with how something so devastating could happen at a place that has given generations of families such happy memories." The park was closed Tuesday on a pre-scheduled non-operating day. It said it would reopen on Friday, with Goliath staying shut.

What the Investigation Has Not Said

Several basic questions remain unanswered. Police have not said how many other guests were injured, or their conditions, beyond confirming that some were struck. Channel 2 Action News, the Atlanta station, reported one person dead and four people injured. Investigators have not said whether a mechanical fault, a restraint failure or something else is suspected, and no party has been blamed. Goliath will not run while the review continues. A season ticket holder who arrived at the park as guests were being evacuated told CNN he and his family had ridden the same coaster the night before without noticing anything unusual. The park has said only that it is cooperating. That leaves the central question — how a rider came out of a lap-bar restraint on a coaster that has run for two decades — where it has been since Monday afternoon: open.

By Jessica Ali, Staff Writer

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Sources: The Associated Press, CNN, CBS News Atlanta, FOX 5 Atlanta, NBC News, WXIA-11Alive, The Hill/Nexstar, Alaska's News Source, Doan Law Firm, Six Flags Over Georgia and Bolliger & Mabillard statements.