More than 100 people now say the notorious Six Flags roller coaster left them with brain injuries, weeks after an investigation connected the attraction to life-changing harm and multiple deaths.
At a news conference Tuesday, civil attorney Christopher Bulone accused Six Flags Magic Mountain in Southern California of “willingly gambling with people’s lives.”
“No ride like that should be allowed to exist,” Bulone said of the X2 roller coaster while announcing three lawsuits against the company.
Lawyers said hundreds of additional riders had contacted them. Some were outside the statute of limitations, others reported injuries unrelated to the brain, and some lacked documentation showing they had received medical care.
Two of the lawsuits filed Monday represent riders whose cases were included in a CNN investigation published in August.
Riders Report Devastating Brain Injuries
Pamela Guillen, 40, of Hawaii, and Naomi Greer-Wilkinson, 25, of Los Angeles, took what became life-threatening rides on the X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, in July, according to CNN.
Disturbing images showed both women unconscious, with shaved heads, after undergoing treatment for traumatic brain injuries they allegedly sustained on the coaster.
The women were photographed in hospital gowns and connected to tubes after undergoing serious medical procedures, details of which were reported by CNN.
Greer-Wilkinson has remained in a coma with a severe traumatic brain injury since the incident.
Her father, Joshua Wilkinson, told CNN that the ride’s violent motion damaged part of her brain and caused bleeding.
Doctors saved her life by performing emergency brain surgery.
Doctors Call for the Ride to Be Closed
Greer-Wilkinson’s mother, Artemis Greer, recalled one surgeon rushing through the emergency room and shouting, “How many is it this month? They’ve got to shut that ride down!”
“Naomi should have never, ever in a million years, even had the option to get on that ride. It’s absolutely insane,” Greer said.
Doctors believe the X2 caused the injuries suffered by both Guillen and Greer-Wilkinson.
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“In our professional opinion, the severe brain injuries requiring emergent neurosurgical attention were the result of a traumatic rapid acceleration-deceleration event experienced while on the X2 ride,” the doctors wrote in an email reviewed by CNN.
The attraction has been closed since July 12.
According to Dordick Law, which has filed multiple lawsuits against Six Flags, Greer-Wilkinson is among more than 100 people who say they suffered serious brain injuries while riding the coaster in recent months.
X2 Tied to Years of Injuries and Hospitalizations
The plaintiffs rode the X2, billed as the world’s first fourth-dimension roller coaster. The attraction can reach nearly 80 miles per hour while its seats rotate 360 degrees as the train travels along the track.
Widely considered one of the most intense roller coaster designs in the world, the model has only two other versions—one in China and another in Japan.
Medical records reviewed by CNN indicate that the X2 has been associated with more than a dozen injury reports and hospitalizations over the past 20 years.
Christopher Hawley, a 22-year-old college graduate, died roughly 10 hours after riding the coaster with his brother and cousin in 2022, CNN reported.
A coroner concluded that Hawley suffered blunt-force head trauma in what was described as a “park ride accident,” according to the outlet.
Earlier Deaths and Confidential Settlements Add to Safety Questions
Hawley’s father, William, told Fox 11 that a surgeon said the X2 had struck his son’s head with such force that it had “basically ruptured his brain.”
Hawley’s parents later filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against park operator Magic Mountain LLC and S&S Worldwide Inc., which supplied replacement trains for the coaster.
The family reached a settlement with Magic Mountain LLC and a separate agreement with S&S in August. The terms were not disclosed.
In 2010, 28-year-old Hilda Farias also died after riding the coaster. Doctors believed the ride’s extreme forces caused an existing abnormality in her brain to rupture. Her family later settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.
Six Flags did not respond to Our News Outlet’s request for comment.
