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A fatal roller coaster incident at Six Flags Over Georgia is raising questions about ride safety and potential liability as investigators work to determine how a rider was ejected from one of the park’s attractions.
The man was killed Monday while riding Goliath, the tallest roller coaster at the park, which features a 200-foot first hill. Police and state ride inspectors are investigating, while Six Flags temporarily closed nine similar roller coasters across North America following the death, according to The Associated Press.
Mark Lopez-Trigo, a Florida personal injury attorney and founding partner of Padron & Lopez-Trigo, told Fox News Digital that investigators will likely examine whether the incident was isolated or points to an issue with the ride’s safety equipment, maintenance or inspections.
“What led to this incident, whether it be isolated or system-wide?” Lopez-Trigo said. “Was it a failure in the system itself?”
MAN DIES AFTER FALLING FROM GOLIATH ROLLER COASTER AT SIX FLAGS OVER GEORGIA
Investigators could examine Goliath’s restraint system and whether required maintenance and inspections were properly conducted leading up to the incident, he said.
“All that’s going to hopefully come out in the next couple days throughout the investigation,” he said.
Lopez-Trigo stressed that the investigation remains in its early stages and that the cause has not been determined.
Six Flags’ decision to temporarily close similar rides could help narrow the investigation, Lopez-Trigo said, though the closures alone do not establish a broader safety problem.
“It tells us where to focus theories of liability,” he said.
Goliath does not take riders upside down and uses lap bars that pull down over riders’ legs and waists rather than seat belts, according to The Associated Press.
Lopez-Trigo said cases involving alleged safety-equipment failures often require investigators and attorneys to look beyond the moments immediately preceding an accident.
MAN’S FATAL FALL FROM SIX FLAGS ROLLER COASTER SPARKS HORRIFYING EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS
“Usually what it boils down to is, like what I said, some sort of trickle down effect where a certain system either wasn’t maintained properly or wasn’t inspected properly,” he said, speaking generally about cases his firm has handled.
For the victim’s family, potential civil litigation could include a wrongful-death claim brought through the victim’s estate, while injured guests could have separate personal injury claims, depending on the circumstances, Lopez-Trigo said.
While those claims involve different legal rights and damages, he said the process of determining what happened and who, if anyone, bears responsibility would likely be similar.
“While justice might mean different things to the different parties, the path to getting that justice is probably gonna look similar in terms of finding some of the answers as to how this happened,” he said.
Lopez-Trigo said the closure of nine similar coasters underscores how much remains unknown.
“Six Flags’ decision to temporarily close nine other roller coasters across six parks tells you that the company itself does not yet know what caused this,” he said.
WOMAN ALLEGEDLY EJECTED FROM ROLLER COASTER, SUFFERS SERIOUS INJURIES AFTER DRAGGED ALONG TRACK: REPORTS
Determining the cause will be critical not only to potential civil claims but also to identifying whether safety changes are needed, Lopez-Trigo said.
“When we’ve dealt with cases like this in the past, it was always extremely important to find out what happened,” he said, adding that uncovering the facts can help prevent similar incidents.
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The investigation remains ongoing, and authorities have not announced an official cause.
Six Flags could not immediately be reached by Fox News Digital for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
