Hassan Kariem was at Six Flags Over Georgia to celebrate his niece’s 13th birthday and was sitting next to her on the Goliath roller coaster when he died, according to his family. “She said… her latch, I guess, broke or came loose,” the girl’s father, Joshua Nelson, told WSB, recounting the day the family’s world turned upside down. He said Kariem was excited to be at the amusement park and described the Goliath roller coaster as “one of his favorite rides.” Kariem, a local teacher, fell from the coaster, reportedly hitting other passengers before landing on the roof of a haunted house.
Nelson said he hopes his brother-in-law felt no pain in his final moments, as his niece reported he “passed out” before his restraints appeared to fail. He adds that part of him feels “it was a freak accident,” but another part wonders, “could this have been avoided?” A woman reported that her son rode Goliath about an hour before Kariem died and discovered that one seat unlocked several times before changing seats, according to PBS News Hour. Eleven roller coasters in the United States and Canada are closed as police, state regulators and roller coaster maker Bolliger & Mabillard investigate what happened.
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