NEWS: Man dies after falling from ride at Six Flags in Denver
JackTheRipper
By JENNIFER HAMILTON
Associated Press Writer
372 words
28 May 2002
07:11
Associated Press Newswires
English
Copyright 2002. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
DENVER (AP) - A man fell to his death after standing up on an
attraction at Six Flags Elitch Gardens amusement park, authorities
said.
The death Monday came one day after a worker at Six Flags Over Georgia
was killed when he wandered into the path of an upside-down roller
coaster and was struck in the head by a passenger's dangling legs.
The man killed in Denver, John Garlide, 28, was transported to Denver
Health Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, police said. The
death was being investigated as accidental, she said.
He was killed on a pendulum ride called the "Rainbow" in which
passengers sit in bench-like seats on a platform that moves up and
down in a circular motion. The ride was closed immediately following
the accident, but the park remained open.
The park was open Tuesday.
Park officials said in a news release that Garlide was part of a group
of "mentally-challenged individuals." They said witnesses reported
that he unlatched his seat belt and worked his way out of the lap bar
restraint.
Park spokesman Eric Curry said he was not sure if Garlide fell before
or after the ride operator hit an emergency stop button.
Officials at Six Flags Over Georgia were unsure how or why the
58-year-old foreman walked into the locked, no-access area on "Batman,
The Ride" on Sunday.
Police identified the man as Samuel Milton Guyton of Atlanta. He had
worked at the park since February.
In August 1997, a ride operator at Six Flags Elitch Gardens was killed
when she stepped off the three-story platform next to the Sidewinder
roller coaster. The park was fined more than $32,000 by the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which said not enough
was done to protect the worker.
Elitch Gardens opened in Denver in 1890. It was purchased by Premier
Parks in 1996 for $65 million. The park's name was changed to Six
Flags Elitch Gardens in 1998 when Premier Parks bought the Six Flags
chain.
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