More than 100 people are now accusing the infamous Six Flags roller coaster of causing them brain damage, only weeks after an investigation linked the ride to life-altering injuries and even deaths.
Civil attorney Christopher Bulone said at a news conference Tuesday that Six Flags in Southern California ‘has been willingly gambling with people’s lives.’
‘No ride like that should be allowed to exist,’ he said about the X2 roller coaster, announcing the filing of three lawsuits against the company.
Attorneys added they heard from hundreds of other riders who were either ineligible to sue because of the statute of limitations, had injuries that were not brain-related or did not have proof of medical treatment.
But two of the lawsuits filed Monday came on behalf of two riders featured in a CNN investigation from August.
Hawaii resident Pamela Guillen, 40, and 25-year-old Naomi Greer-Wilkinson from Los Angeles, took life-threatening rides at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, in July, CNN reported.
Chilling images showed the two women unconscious and with shaved heads after receiving treatment for traumatic brain injuries they allegedly suffered on the roller coaster.
Both women were seen attached to tubes and in hospital gowns after undergoing serious procedures, which have been detailed to CNN.
Naomi Greer-Wilkinson, 25, collapsed after riding the X2 only six days after Guillen, according to reports. Doctors saved her life with emergency brain surgery 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 did not give a reason for the closure and the company has not released any statements on the investigation
Greer-Wilkinson has remained in a coma with a severe traumatic brain injury ever since.
Her father, Joshua Wilkinson, told CNN: ‘The jarring had damaged part of her brain and it had begun to bleed.’
Doctors were able to save her life with an emergency brain surgery.
Her mother, Artemis Greer, said: ‘I do remember one of the surgeons storming through the ER and yelling: “How many is it this month? They’ve got to shut that ride down!” He was furious.
‘Naomi should have never, ever in a million years, even had the option to get on that ride. It’s absolutely insane,’ Greer insisted.
Doctors believe that the injuries were caused by the X2 in Guillen’s as well as in Greer-Wilkinson’s case.
‘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 viewed by CNN.
The ride has remained closed since July 12.
The X2 speeds up to nearly 80 miles an hour while flipping rider seats 360 degrees around the track
Christopher Hawley (center), 22, died after riding the X2 roller coaster at Six Flags Mountain Magic with his brother and cousin in 2022
There are only three X2 roller coasters in the world. One in Valencia, California, one in China and another in Japan
Greer-Wilkinson is one of over 100 people who have come forward claiming they suffered severe brain injuries on the ride in recent months, according to Dordick Law, which has filed a series of lawsuits against Six Flags.
The plaintiffs had ridden on the X2, the world’s first fourth-dimension roller coaster. It is known for hitting speeds of nearly 80 miles an hour while flipping seats 360 degrees as it makes its way around the track.
The roller coaster is widely regarded as one of the most intense models of its kind in the world and there are only two more, in China and in Japan.
The X2 ride has been linked to more than a dozen reports of injuries and hospitalizations in the past two decades, according to medical reports seen by CNN.
A 22-year-old college graduate, Christopher Hawley, died about ten hours after getting off the ride with his brother and cousin in 2022, the outlet said.
A coroner’s report found he suffered blunt head trauma during a ‘park ride accident,’ CNN reported.
His father, William Hawley, told Fox 11 that a surgeon said the X2 ‘hit his head so hard that it had basically ruptured his brain.’
Attorneys for Hawley’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against park operator Magic Mountain LLC and replacement coaster train supplier S&S Worldwide Inc.
The Hawley family reached a settlement with Magic Mountain LLC and an accord with S&S, the terms of which remain undisclosed, just this August.
In 2010, 28-year-old Hilda Farias also died after riding the roller coaster. Doctors believed an existing brain abnormality ruptured because of the ride’s intensity. Her family later settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.
Six Flags did not reply to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
