Death at Six Flags

There's a reason certain areas of theme parks are marked "off limits":

AUSTELL, Ga. — A teenager was decapitated by a roller coaster after he hopped a pair of fences and entered a restricted area Saturday at Six Flags Over Georgia, authorities said.

Six Flags officials are uncertain why the unidentified 17-year-old from Columbia, S.C. scaled two six-foot fences and passed signs that said the restricted area was both off-limits and dangerous to visitors, spokeswoman Hela Sheth said in a news release.

Authorities were investigating reports from witnesses who said the teenager jumped the fences to retrieve a hat he lost while riding the Batman roller coaster, said Cobb County police Sgt. Dana Pierce. Police have declined to release the teenager's name until an autopsy is completed.

Six Flags said it closed the roller coaster after the Saturday afternoon accident out of respect for the teen's family. The ride was expected to reopen on Sunday, according to a Six Flags news release.

Police said the ride was going full-speed when the teen was struck. The ride's top speed is 50 mph, according to the park's Web site.

No one riding on the roller coaster was injured, Sheth said. The teen was with another boy who also entered the restricted area but was not injured, Pierce said.
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The teen and his parents were at the park with a group from the Oakey Spring Baptist Church near Springfield, S.C., police said.

That ride goes pretty quick. An impact with any part of that ride or a rider would be devastating, as demonstrated above.

Of course you know what will happen now. Six Flags will be sued because they have fences surrounding dangerous and marked areas a 17-year old can climb over, the ride manufacturer will be sued because they built a ride capable of taking the head off a person trying to hit a rider's foot in the off limits area, and the riders who were on the offending train and compatriots of the deceased will sue everybody because of the emotional trauma they experienced. It will be everyone's fault except the kid who put himself into the situation that cost him his life.

An update from AJC.com:

Shawn Ferguson was an average student and a rising senior at Columbia's W.J. Keenan High School.

Ferguson said his son loved PlayStation 3, working out with weights and playing basketball. He also was avid churchgoer, played the drums, sang tenor in the choir at Oakley Spring Baptist and had a love for both gospel and secular music, including rap.

"He didn't do anything wrong," Ferguson said. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Police said the teens had been inside the park earlier and were trying to re-enter without going to the front entrance. They did not identify the other youth.

They first scaled a decorative black iron fence that circles the entire park, then a chain-link one that encircles the ride. The fences are each about 6 feet tall.

The fences are posted with signs warning of a danger zone and a "restricted area" accessible only to authorized park employees, Six Flags said in a written statement.