Six Flags Over Georgia is facing fresh scrutiny after a resurfaced TikTok video showed a rider nearly being thrown from the same rollercoaster where a man died days earlier.
The undated clip, posted by the account @jims_legacy, captures a young man repeatedly lifting from his seat on the Goliath coaster as the ride climbs and drops through its 200-foot course. The footage is captioned “My friend almost flew out his seat.” The safety straps holding him appear visibly looser than those on riders beside him, with the lap bar resting higher on his body.
“It’s called airtime. Completely normal by design,” one TikTok user commented beneath the video, invoking the term for the floating sensation engineered into modern coasters.
Other viewers rejected that explanation outright. “That restraint is NOT tight enough,” wrote one. “You can look and see that his lap bar is further up than the others,” added another. Several directed blame at park operations, with one commenting, “It is very clear they did not pull his restraint down far enough. It appears they need to retrain some of these workers.”
The video’s circulation comes as the park grapples with the aftermath of Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem’s death on the same attraction earlier this week. The circumstances of Kariem’s fatal ride remain under investigation by Cobb County Police and park security, with Mableton Public Safety Director Dr. Kerry Stallings coordinating the response.
Local mayor Michael Owens issued a statement extending condolences. “Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the individual’s family, friends, and loved ones during this difficult time,” he said. “Mableton Public Safety Director Dr. Kerry Stallings is coordinating with Cobb County Police and park security as the situation is addressed. We are grateful to the personnel responding to this incident and will continue to support coordination with the appropriate authorities.”
Witnesses who were at the park during Kariem’s final ride later described the chaos to Atlanta station 11Alive. One visitor recalled being stranded on the coaster for more than an hour immediately following the incident. “We were ascending up and that is when we heard the screams. Then we looked down and saw people running and panicking,” the witness said.
“As soon as that happened, we got stuck. We didn’t know if it was a problem with ours [carriage] or something else. That stopped and we were stuck up there for more than an hour. As we were going up, the carriage behind us, that has to be the one, because that’s where everyone was running to. I am assuming they just stopped everything, and that’s what got us stuck.”
The same witness emphasized the distress of the prolonged wait without information. “We were all obviously concerned, we saw the ambulances come and everyone running over to our rollercoaster, but the worst part was just being up there for an hour with no updates, no news, nothing.”
Another bystander offered a more specific account of the fatal sequence. “A young Black male was ejected from the vehicle. The vehicle hit him, and then he flew back up again, and it hit him again,” the witness told 11Alive. “That’s when he was, I guess, flung from the ride.”
The Goliath coaster, among the tallest steel coasters in the Southeast, has now been linked to two disturbing rider safety incidents in rapid succession. The TikTok footage shows the unidentified rider in the viral clip remaining calm throughout his experience, even as his body separates repeatedly from his seat. Those seated adjacent to him also appear unfazed.
“They need shoulder restraints too,” one TikTok commenter wrote. “He’s literally flying out the seat,” another added.
Whether the rider in the video deliberately loosened his own restraint remains unclear from the footage. The video’s poster has not indicated when it was recorded or whether it was reported to park staff at the time.
The Cobb County Police investigation into Kariem’s death continues with no timeline announced for its completion.