Decapitation at Six Flags Over Georgia

[hobie16]

boink? Hobie, I about died when I read your post!

I could have said bump uglies but this is a family site.

[BRWombat]

I could have said bump uglies but this is a family site.

Thank you for your restraint.

[Mayonnaise]

Dude... this is awful. I mean yes, the kid was stupid, REAL stupid, but I don't think it's funny either, and not, as some have said, because of the 'poor boy.' One imagines decapitation by coaster to be instant death, so godwilling he didn't suffer much. Assuming he/his family believes in heaven, he's probably up there now and quite happy. His family on the other hand are suffering, as they lost him. Somehow that doesn't squick me as much as what the people on the train must have felt tho.

I mean... that's one of those, dangling coasters right? Not the self contained sit inside type. So, looking at pictures of that train... the kid got decapitated, probably by that bar underneath the seat... which means at least one, and probably a fair number of the occupants of that train, were aware at that moment of what the hell had just happened, may have even seen him before and realized they had no way of stopping themselves, with heightened adrenaline already in their systems from the coaster, and probably blood on their shoes and legs... that's the sort of thing that could mess a person up in the head for a good long time.

Then there's the ride ops, like people have mentioned before... I mean, wtf must they have had to deal with, first when a train load of guests comes to unload FREAKING THE FRAK OUT, on a train with blood spatter, and then afterward, with all the liability stuff? Does anyone know where on the track this happened and if any of those poor Ops were in a position where they could see and not stop it? (Is there even an e-stop available on coasters?) Cause that helpless feeling... that would be awful.

*Shudder.*

8^S

[Freak]

An E-Stop on Batman would be pointless since the only set of brakes are at...final brake run/approach.

Unless you spot these kids whilst the train is going up the lift (which is hard, since almost all the B:TR stations are enclosed), the E-Stop wouldn't do anything. Totally out of the ride-ops hands.

Just like when one of our Xcelerator trains caught on fire mid-ride. We didn't E-Stop it since the train would have sat at brake block and possibly burned the train alive. Let the train jog back to the station, let everyone out, and then E-Stop it.

[Big Wallaby]

Mayo, I think everyone here agrees with you, that that is awful to do to the people on the train, and to the ride ops, to make them watch you die.

It's like the parents who dangle their kids over the croc bridge even after I am and have been yelling at them to get their kids back in the truck. If they drop their child, I am going to do the most callous thing I possibly can... get away. Then, when I am far enough away to not hear the screams, I am not sure what I am going to next. But it ain't gonna be nice.

Were this to happen to me, the best thing I could do is get off the truck in the middle of the savannah, take my radio and walk far, far away, because I shudder to think what I might do if I have to look at that awful parent again. That would be my last day working at Disney, you would never see me again here, but you might see me on nationwide news as they take me to my new padded cell. If an adult fell in of their own stupidity, that would be one thing, and I would be able to cope after a bit. But a child hoisted and *accidentally* dropped from my truck would destroy me for a good while.

So in the aspects you talk about I find absolutely no humor, just as I can't laugh that this kid killed himself... not now anyway. However, I will cave and admit that he should win a Darwin Award on many, many levels.

[hobie16]

If they drop their child, I am going to do the most callous thing I possibly can... get away. Then, when I am far enough away to not hear the screams, I am not sure what I am going to next.

My reaction would be different. The second thing the parent would feel will be my size 10 DD boot in their ass pushing them over the edge. My goal would be to toss a larger piece of meat into the pool so the kid would have a chance to escape.

[ktulu]

My reaction would be different. The second thing the parent would feel will be my size 10 DD boot in their ass pushing them over the edge. My goal would be to toss a larger piece of meat into the pool so the kid would have a chance to escape.

Borrow mine instead, 12, 4E.

[Big Wallaby]

My reaction would be different. The second thing the parent would feel will be my size 10 DD boot in their ass pushing them over the edge. My goal would be to toss a larger piece of meat into the pool so the kid would have a chance to escape.

25 crocs. 2 targets. Wouldn't do the kid any good.

[hobie16]

25 crocs. 2 targets. Wouldn't do the kid any good.

I tried.

[Mayonnaise]

Mayo, I think everyone here agrees with you, that that is awful to do to the people on the train, and to the ride ops, to make them watch you die.

.....

So in the aspects you talk about I find absolutely no humor, just as I can't laugh that this kid killed himself... not now anyway. However, I will cave and admit that he should win a Darwin Award on many, many levels.

I wasn't trying to be all "shame shame" or anything. Really I was just trying to point out that with all the "shame shame" and "lay off the poor dead kid" sentiment being tossed in the ring, (I'm late to the party and responding to the thread as a whole, having read to catch up) people are forgetting that the kid isn't the only victim here, and the rest were innocent of any stupid decision making. I think that's probably why people are able to be as acerbic about his death as they are, not because they're jaded and calloused against tragedy, but because as dead as the boy may be now, his decision didn't just hurt him, and it's hard to have sympathy for someone who is as much perpetrator as victim.

Certainly not down anyone's throat for the dark humor. Sometimes it's a way of dealing with a really uncomfortable situation.

And yeah... prime Darwin material.

8^)