Six Flags rollercoaster lands two women in hospital with alarmingly similar brain injury | CNN

In the span of less than a week this July, surgeons at a Southern California hospital raced to save the lives of two women suffering from alarmingly similar brain hemorrhages.

The severe injuries were the kind doctors encounter in patients after high-speed collisions or other violent accidents that cause the brain to twist and slam inside one’s skull.

Neither woman, however, had been involved in a crash, fall or other such incident.

Instead, they had ridden an extreme roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain, known as X2, which draws thrill-seekers from around the world with its rotating seats, near-vertical drops and unpredictable movements. It has long been the park’s marquee attraction — promoted as a “[rite] of passage for the ultimate daredevil.”

But behind the ride’s legendary reputation lies a troubling record of serious injuries, a CNN investigation has found.

X2 has been linked to more than a dozen reports of serious injuries and hospitalizations over nearly two decades, a review of medical records, depositions and legal filings shows. Among the casualties are riders who suffered life-altering disabilities, fell into comas and two who died of their injuries. Park officials, meanwhile, have long fielded scores of complaints about other head and neck injuries sustained after riding the attraction, according to internal records cited by an expert witness for a plaintiff in court filings.

Yet despite years of warnings from the park’s visitors, attorneys and medical experts about the perils of riding X2, officials at the theme park – located in Valencia, California – and state regulators allowed the attraction to continue operating.

“I personally don’t think head injury should be an expected risk from going on a roller coaster ride, and there is no reason a ride can’t be properly designed to prevent injuries like this,” said Lyndia Wu, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of British Columbia who has researched the effects of roller coasters on the brain.

According to research by Wu and others, the risk of traumatic brain injuries associated with roller coasters is considered to be very low, though much of this research dates back many years and Wu told CNN there may be higher-risk rides that need to be further investigated, such as X2. Some high-profile cases from other attractions have involved those with suspected pre-existing conditions, such as a woman who died after riding the Goliath roller coaster at the same Six Flags location in 2001 when an aneurysm ruptured in her brain.

What makes X2 different from other roller coasters is its 4th-dimensional quality — meaning its seats are rotating 360 degrees around the track as trains reach speeds of nearly 80 miles per hour for roughly two minutes. There are only two other such roller coasters in the world: One in China, and the other in Japan, which closed temporarily last year after a fatal injury involving a park worker inspecting the ride.

Six Flags closed the roller coaster the evening of July 12, according to a spokesperson. This was nearly a full day after the latest injury there, and park officials have remained silent about what necessitated the closure.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, which oversees amusement park ride operations, did not respond to questions about the history of brain injuries allegedly associated with X2 and did not say how it has deemed it safe to reopen after past incidents. It would only say an inspection remains ongoing.

Six Flags also declined to answer detailed questions from CNN, including questions about why X2 remained operational in the wake of the first July injury, saying the only information it is sharing is that “the ride remains closed at this time.”

Attorneys for the theme park have defended the roller coaster in court when sued by riders or their families over injuries, arguing that a sign warns passengers that “there are inherent risks in the participation in or on any amusement ride or attraction.” They have also said X2 is regularly tested and that the physical forces riders experience are not strong enough to create a traumatic brain injury for a “normal” rider using it “as instructed.”

Three neurosurgeons who have treated the two women injured in July disagreed.

“In our professional opinion,” the surgeons wrote in an email reviewed by CNN, “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 groundbreaking attraction, which Six Flags has sunk millions of dollars into, was plagued with problems from the outset.

Construction of X2 plunged its maker, Arrow Dynamics, into bankruptcy after the company miscalculated costs, according to a trade publication at the time, and the roller coaster – initially called X – opened months behind schedule in January 2002. Six Flags redesigned it in 2007, but even when it reopened as X2 a year later, it was frequently out of operation.

None of this, however, stopped roller coaster enthusiasts from around the world from traveling to Magic Mountain for a chance to experience the first-of-its kind ride.

“X2 has been one of the most popular thrill rides on the planet,” Six Flags boasted on YouTube in 2014. “On ordinary roller coasters, the train stays in line with the track…but there is nothing ordinary about X2.”

In September 2014, Selena O’Neill, 17, knew something was wrong as soon as she got off X2 with friends. Her head ached and she struggled to see and walk straight.

Her right leg began shaking any time she stood up and pointed outward in an unusual position, and when her grandmother took her to the doctor the next day, she suffered a seizure during the appointment, according to court records. Doctors examining the previously healthy teenager at a Los Angeles hospital discovered a subdural hematoma, a life-threatening injury which occurs when blood collects on the surface of the brain. They directly attributed it to the ride.

O’Neill sued the theme park in 2015. But her injuries drew little public attention, and it’s unclear if they were ever reported to state authorities. State regulators did not comment on this when asked by CNN.

Internal Six Flags records obtained by O’Neill’s attorney during the lawsuit show at least five riders had visited the hospital complaining of head pain prior to O’Neill’s injury. Her attorney also pointed to a prior lawsuit filed by a 62-year-old man who had suffered a traumatic brain injury after riding X2 with his two daughters in 2009, years before O’Neill ever boarded the attraction.

Hospital physicians would later detail her case in a 2019 medical journal article without naming X2. The doctors warned that “advances of roller-coaster technology and industry competition for thrill-seeking patrons may ultimately improve acceleration and performance beyond the passenger’s physical ability to tolerate them.”

The case was closed in 2017, and Six Flags argued in court filings that O’Neill should have been aware of potential risks when she chose to board. O’Neill requested that her case be dismissed after settling with the maker of X2’s vehicles, according to court filings.

As reports of serious head injuries mounted, longtime riders of X2 took to internet forums to question the aging coaster’s increasingly jarring experience and give advice on how riders could brace themselves to avoid a concussion.

Many reported the worst jolts to the head coming near the end.

“It honestly felt like a boxer punched me in the head twice,” one rider on Reddit wrote back in 2018, proceeding to offer a “defensive riding recommendation” to others braving X2: “Holding your head back against the rest makes it even worse so do not attempt this. Instead, as the ride nears the last two maneuvers lean forward as far as you can to try to avoid or mitigate the impact. You will get some mild whiplash, but it is better.”

For Sheila Katerelos, then 50, X2 was the second ride of the day during a visit to Six Flags in February 2020. In a court deposition, she described feeling a “sharp, throbbing pain” when her head slammed the back of the headrest. The pain, she said, reached a 10 out of 10 by the time the she pulled back into the station.

Katerelos became nauseated and dizzy while waiting in line for another ride and her husband, a doctor, became concerned as he witnessed her move increasingly slowly, drag one of her legs and slur her words. He immediately drove her to the emergency room where she was hospitalized for five days and diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and multiple subdural hematomas, according to court records.

Katerelos’ lawsuit against the company that makes X2’s trains is currently awaiting trial.

A year later, in 2021, Lucy Alvarez, a 46-year-old phlebotomist, had a similar experience when she visited the amusement park with her sister, according to medical records and her attorney. She said she felt so dizzy that she had to sit down. She knew she had hit the back of her head hard on the ride’s headrest, but she figured the pain would get better, so she headed back to San Diego. When her light-headedness and head pain still hadn’t gone away nine days later, she went to the emergency room, where she was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury – specifically a traumatic subdural hematoma – due to the roller coaster ride, medical records show.

After the injury, her headaches and mental fogginess made it difficult to focus, her attorney told CNN, and she was unable to complete nursing school. She still struggles with memory loss, balance issues and chronic migraines, the attorney said.

In response to her allegations, Six Flags said in a legal filing that any injuries that occurred were due to Alvarez’s own negligence and reiterated its argument that passengers are agreeing to assume risk. Her attorney told CNN a trial is scheduled for October 2027.

Christopher Hawley, a 22-year-old recent college graduate, rode X2 in June of 2022 with his cousin and brother. According to court records, the three of them hit their heads multiple times on the back of the seat as they were flipped like “rag dolls.”

Shortly after exiting, Hawley complained of feeling lightheaded before slumping to the ground and going unconscious. “I will never forget the fear from the look he gave me as his eyes closed,” his cousin testified in a court deposition.

Hawley was transported to nearby Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital where surgeons discovered brain bleeding so severe it was squeezing his brain towards one side of his skull, according to court records.

By the time surgeons opened his skull, Hawley’s brain had swollen so intensely it began bulging out of the opening they made in an attempt to relieve the pressure. Hawley, an aspiring actor, had been in excellent health when he boarded X2, according to court records. He died less than ten hours later.

The neurosurgeon who treated Hawley likened his injuries to those sustained by “shaken baby syndrome,” and the medical examiner ruled his death had been caused by blunt head trauma from “a park ride accident,” according to the coroner’s report.

And the theme park’s internal records showed it had fielded at least 70 prior head and neck injury complaints from X2 riders in the three years leading up to Hawley’s death, according to a declaration by an expert hired by Hawley’s family, who reviewed the records.

It’s unclear how closely Six Flags tracks injuries and the theme park successfully fought in court to keep the first aid and medical incident reports under seal, arguing to a judge their disclosure “will serve only to fuel sensational media coverage portraying the X2 ride as dangerous, thereby tainting the jury pool.”

In an interview with CNN, a Colorado woman who posted about her experience on Reddit said she reported symptoms of a concussion to the park last year – along with other injuries her family members had experienced from X2. But park officials never addressed her report or checked on their wellbeing, said the woman, who is a nationwide passholder and asked to remain anonymous to avoid retribution from Six Flags.

Records show that Hawley’s was the second death linked to the ride. In 2010, a 28-year-old single mother, Hilda Farias, died after riding X2. Medical experts at the time suspected her death was caused by a brain abnormality that ruptured because of the intensity of the ride. A suit by her family settled for an undisclosed amount, according to court filings.

Following Hawley’s death in 2022, state officials told Six Flags to immediately shut down X2 and leave it in its current condition so it could be inspected.

Within days, the state allowed the park to reopen the roller coaster. But according to records reviewed during a deposition of the park’s director of maintenance, state officials were allegedly unaware that maintenance workers had replaced a wheel on one of the train cars prior to their inspection.

State officials did not appear to interview any witnesses or medical experts as part of their inspection of the ride. Instead, as is typical under state regulations, the inspector relied on safety and testing data provided by Six Flags that showed X2 had once again met safety standards adopted by the state.

Those standards, however, were developed by a committee that includes ride manufacturers and theme park operators.

Brian Avery, a professor at the University of Florida who specializes in ride safety and risk management, told CNN these standards are a good starting point but do not account for real-world factors such as the movement of a rider’s head, where the rider is seated, and whether the rider’s head hits the back of the seat.

Avery, who has worked as an expert witness on behalf of both riders and theme parks but has not been involved in an X2 case, said that repeated traumatic brain injuries linked to the same ride “constitute a clear safety signal” that should justify a comprehensive review of the ride. Avery has worked as an expert witness on behalf of both riders and theme parks but has not been involved in an X2 case.

Hawley’s parents sued the theme park in 2023, and Six Flags argued in court that the ride falls within approved industry standards and that its forces were not strong enough to cause a hematoma. The case was scheduled to go to trial in September, but court records show that it settled on Wednesday.

The last thing Hawaii resident Pamela Guillen, 40, clearly remembers about riding X2 this July was how anxious she was about getting on the iconic roller coaster her daughter so desperately wanted them to experience together. She told herself it would be the last ride of the day, it would be over in a matter of minutes and then she and her family would go get a nice dinner to celebrate her daughter’s 16th birthday, Guillen told CNN.

But as she dipped and swerved, Guillen hit her head multiple times on the headrest, according to ambulance records that show when her car pulled back into the station, she had to be escorted from her seat and began vomiting. Her daughter Camille Marquez recounted how her mother’s eyes and mouth were open as if she was in shock from the intensity of the ride.

Guillen lost consciousness as soon as she sat down on a bench, ambulance records show, and paramedics arrived to find her unresponsive, with her pupils looking unequal and “sluggish.”

“Mommy, please wake up,” Marquez remembers telling her mother. “I kept rubbing her thigh and kept shaking her to wake up and she wouldn’t.”

Guillen was placed on a ventilator in the back of an ambulance. A CT scan revealed a severe subdural hematoma and brain compression, so doctors at the hospital intubated her and took her straight into the operating room, medical records show.

Guillen’s family waited anxiously as the same surgical team who treated Hawley four years before removed part of Guillen’s skull to release the pressure on her brain.

When Guillen woke up in a hospital bed two weeks later with her head shaved and about 20 staples in her scalp, she had no idea what had happened to her. She could only say one word at a time at first.

“You go in as yourself, and then when you come back, you’re a medical emergency. Like I still can’t wrap my head around that,” Guillen said. “There’s a difference between being jerked around and brain damage.”

Guillen described slowly learning how to talk and walk again and says she battles terrible headaches and brain fog and needs medication to prevent seizures.

“I’m very lucky to be alive,” she said. “I’m taking it a day at a time to not overwhelm myself and to not go into a dark hole of mourning who I was and what I was able to do before this.”

Six Flags did not respond to CNN’s inquiries about whether park officials notified the state of the incident, or if it closed the ride after Guillen’s injury. According to Guillen’s daughter, no representative from Six Flags has reached out to the family since initially offering them food the night of her injury.

Six days later, 25-year-old Los Angeles resident Naomi Greer-Wilkinson boarded X2 during a day at the park with her twin brother and younger sister. Just like Guillen, she lost consciousness shortly after riding the roller coaster and was rushed to the hospital for emergency brain surgery, according to her family.

Greer-Wilkinson’s parents told CNN they were informed by doctors their daughter had suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and they should prepare for the worst.

“Naomi should have never ever in a million years even had the option to get on that ride,” said her mother, Artemis Greer.

Whoever made the decision to keep X2 operational last month has “a lot to answer for,” said Greer-Wilkinson’s father, Joshua Wilkinson. “It’s got to stop.”

Greer remains in critical condition in a coma, hooked up to a ventilator and feeding tube that are keeping her alive. “This is the hardest thing a human being could go through,” her mother said of watching her daughter – whom she described as “wise for her age,” hilarious and kind.

“This is cruel,” she added.

A representative from Six Flags offered the family food from McDonald’s when Greer-Wilkinson first arrived in the emergency room, according to her mother. But they haven’t heard anything since.