Roller coaster death at Six Flags Over Texas park investigated

Authorities in North Texas are investigating how an adult woman apparently fell to her death while riding a roller coaster at a Six Flags amusement park Friday evening.

The accident occurred just after 6:30 p.m. at the Six Flags Over Texas park in Arlington. The ride, the Texas Giant roller coaster, remained closed Saturday morning,

“We are working closely with authorities to determine the cause of the accident,” Sharon Parker, a park spokeswoman, said in a statement. The woman’s name and age have not been released.

Witnesses told local media that the woman may not have been properly secured.

“She goes up like this. Then when it drops to come down, that’s when it [the safety bar] released and she just tumbled,” Carmen Brown of Arlington, who was waiting in line to board the ride, told the Dallas Morning News. Brown said she saw the woman being strapped into the seat.

“They didn’t secure her right. One of the employees from the park — one of the ladies — she asked her to click her more than once, and they were like, ‘As long you heard it click, you’re OK.’ Everybody else is like, ‘Click, click, click,’ ” Brown told the newspaper.

“Hers only clicked once. Hers was the only one that went down once, and she didn’t feel safe, but they let her still get on the ride,” Brown said.

John Putman, who was also waiting in line, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he heard two people screaming, “‘My mom! My mom! Let us out, we need to go get her!’”

The park expressed condolences to the woman’s family and friends. A concert scheduled there for Saturday night was also canceled.

The Texas Giant roller coaster is 14 stories high and opened in 1990 as the world’s tallest wooden roller coaster. The ride closed for renovations in November of 2009 and reopened in April of 2011. It advertises a 79-degree drop and several razor-sharp turns.

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