A Six Flags visitor who died after falling from a roller coaster had reportedly passed out before his restraint appeared to come loose, according to his niece, who was riding beside him.
Hassan Kariem, 42, was aboard the Goliath hypercoaster at Six Flags Over Georgia outside Atlanta when he was ejected shortly before 4 p.m. Monday. He died in the incident, while four other park visitors were injured.
Kariem’s niece had been at the amusement park celebrating her 13th birthday. After the ride, she called her father in a panic.
During that call, the girl said her uncle had fainted or lost consciousness, her father, Joshua Nelson, told WSBTV on Thursday.
“They went up and down, up and down, up and down,” Nelson said, recounting his daughter’s account. “It went up again, his latch snapped or came loose, and he fell. She told me he fell off the roller coaster.”
The teenager also told her father that she did not know where Kariem was after he fell from the attraction. Kariem was a well-liked technology teacher at Wesley International Academy.
Nelson then contacted Kariem’s wife, Eboni, who had been waiting outside the ride. She knew something serious had occurred but had not yet learned the details, according to the outlet.
Soon afterward, Kariem’s wife heard an announcement that someone had died. She immediately feared that the victim was her husband.
Nelson said his daughter was not physically injured in the frightening episode.
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Six Flags says Goliath, which debuted in 2006, climbs about 200 feet and reaches speeds of up to 70 mph. The ride lasts approximately three and a half minutes.
Cobb County police said officers found Kariem beneath the coaster, unresponsive and not breathing, on Wednesday.
“Preliminary information gathered through witness and employee interview indicates Kariem was ejected from the ride and struck other patrons before falling beneath the attraction,” the Cobb County Police Department said in a statement.
Four children were also hurt in the incident. Police said their injuries were not life-threatening and that they were transported to a hospital.
Because all four injured visitors were minors, authorities said no additional information could be released. “Because they were all juveniles, no further information can be shared,” E.D. Smith, a Cobb County police public information officer, told The Post Thursday.
Six Flags supervisor KeJuan Taylor told CNN that he was the first person to locate Kariem after the fall, calling the scene “genuinely horrifying.”
Taylor said he was not physically hurt but acknowledged that the incident had continued to affect him in the days afterward. “I have not suffered any physical injuries but it has been on my mind very recently through these past days,” he said.
Six Flags planned to reopen the Georgia park Friday, while Goliath would remain closed temporarily, a park spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
The death remains under investigation by the Cobb County Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit and the Georgia Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire.
