More than 100 people now say Six Flags’ notorious X2 roller coaster caused serious brain injuries, just weeks after an investigation connected the ride 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 as he announced three lawsuits against the company.
Attorneys said hundreds of additional riders had contacted them. Some could not pursue claims because the statute of limitations had expired, while others reported injuries unrelated to the brain or lacked documentation of medical treatment.
Two of the lawsuits filed Monday involve riders whose cases were featured in a CNN investigation published in August.
Pamela Guillen, 40, of Hawaii, and Naomi Greer-Wilkinson, 25, of Los Angeles, took the X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, in July, CNN reported.
Disturbing images showed both women unconscious with shaved heads after undergoing treatment for traumatic brain injuries they allegedly sustained on the coaster.
Both were photographed in hospital gowns, connected to medical tubes, after undergoing serious procedures described to CNN.
Naomi Greer-Wilkinson, 25, collapsed after riding the X2, reportedly just six days after Guillen. Doctors performed emergency brain surgery to save her life, but she remains in a coma
Pamela Guillen, 40, suffered severe brain hemorrhages after riding the X2 at Six Flags in Valencia, California. Her daughter, Camille Marquez, told CNN: “We got off the cart and we saw my mom. She looked lifeless. Not a thought behind her eyes, nothing”
The X2 at Six Flags in Valencia, California, has been closed since July 12. Six Flags has not explained the closure or issued a public statement about the investigation
Greer-Wilkinson has remained in a coma with a severe traumatic brain injury ever since the incident.
Her father, Joshua Wilkinson, told CNN that the ride’s violent motion damaged part of her brain, causing it to bleed.
Doctors saved her life during emergency brain surgery.
Her mother, Artemis Greer, recalled a surgeon rushing through the emergency room and shouting, “How many is it this month? They’ve got to shut that ride down!” She said the doctor appeared furious.
“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.
MORE STORY: Alleged Pentagon Plot to Bring Down Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
“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 coaster has been closed since July 12.
The X2 reaches speeds of nearly 80 miles per hour while rotating rider seats 360 degrees around the track
Christopher Hawley, 22, died after riding the X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain with his brother and cousin in 2022
Only three X2 roller coasters operate worldwide: one in Valencia, California, one in China and one in Japan
Greer-Wilkinson is among more than 100 people who have come forward in recent months alleging that they suffered serious brain injuries on the ride, according to Dordick Law, which has filed several lawsuits against Six Flags.
The plaintiffs all rode the X2, described as the world’s first fourth-dimension roller coaster. The ride reaches speeds of nearly 80 miles per hour while its seats rotate 360 degrees along the track.
The coaster is considered one of the most intense rides of its type. Only two other X2 models exist, located in China and Japan.
Medical records reviewed by CNN show that the X2 has been associated with more than a dozen injury reports and hospitalizations over the past 20 years.
CNN reported that Christopher Hawley, a 22-year-old college graduate, died roughly 10 hours after riding the coaster with his brother and cousin in 2022.
According to CNN, a coroner determined that Hawley suffered blunt-force head trauma in a “park ride accident.”
His father, William Hawley, 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’ attorneys filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against park operator Magic Mountain LLC and S&S Worldwide Inc., the supplier of a replacement coaster train.
The Hawley family settled with Magic Mountain LLC and reached an 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 brain abnormality 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.
