New lawsuits allege Six Flags Magic Mountain’s X2 roller coaster caused traumatic brain injuries

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Three people who went to California’s Six Flags Magic Mountain have filed lawsuits saying they were left with traumatic brain injuries from the park’s famed X2 roller coaster that is advertised as the rite of passage for the “ultimate daredevil.”

The filings are the latest against the world-famous amusement park operator and S&S Worldwide, the manufacturer of the X2 roller coaster. Six Flags recently settled a wrongful-death lawsuit from the family of a 22-year-old man who died after riding the coaster in 2022.

According to documents filed Monday, Pamela Guillen and her family visited the park in July for her daughter’s 16th birthday and decided to ride the X2 roller coaster. When the ride stopped, her daughter saw her “sitting with a vacant stare and her mouth open,” confused and unable to exit the ride.

Shortly after she got out, the previously healthy 39-year-old collapsed and was taken to a hospital, where she underwent emergency brain surgery, according to the lawsuit.

Just five days later, 25-year-old Naomi Greer-Wilkinson boarded the ride with her siblings. She also collapsed shortly after the ride ended and was taken to a hospital, where she was found to have massive brain bleeding inside the skull that required emergency brain surgery. She remains in a vegetative state in the hospital, unable to speak or move and dependent on a ventilator. Her family filed the lawsuit on her behalf.

Their attorney, Gary Dordick, said the firm has been retained by more than 100 clients that suffered brain injuries after riding the X2 roller coaster within the past two years.

“It’s inexcusable that more isn’t done,” Dordick said. “It was known by Magic Mountain that those injuries and deaths occurred and they kept the ride open.”

A spokesperson for Six Flags said it’s their policy not to comment on pending litigation and the ride has been closed since the evening of July 12.

According to the Six Flags Magic Mountain website, the X2 roller coaster reaches a top speed of 76 mph (122 kph) and has a total length of 3,610 feet (1,100 meters). The seats rotate 360 degrees “so your body will be flipping around the entire time,” and the ride features two “raven turns” — half loops that turn into sheer drops midway. It debuted at the park in 2002 as X and reopened in 2008 as X2 with new trains and special effects.

Fans of X2 have discussed on Reddit forums the “unspoken rules” of how to ride the roller coaster without getting injured. Many cite the final raven turn as the most extreme part of the ride and say they have gotten major headaches and what felt like concussions if they didn’t brace their heads properly. One even said they wore a soft head helmet the last time they were on the ride.

“The snapping bangs the head against the headrest and it’s causing brain damage, it’s causing hemorrhaging within the skull,” Dordick said.

Another one of his clients, Michael Wilk, visited the park with his daughter and grandchildren in February. Immediately after going on the ride, he felt stabbing pain in his head, dizziness, and had difficulty walking, the lawsuit states.

While he didn’t seek medical attention immediately, his cognitive function quickly declined in the following weeks as he tried to return to his job as an insurance defense attorney. An MRI scan a few months later showed massive bleeding and swelling inside his skull, requiring multiple surgeries to relieve the pressure on his brain. He said he continues to suffer debilitating headaches, confusion, dizziness, memory loss, and personality changes, and can no longer practice law.

The lawsuit accused Six Flags of intentionally restricting “public disclosure of evidence concerning X2 injuries and safety issues.”

The new lawsuits follow a settlement for wrongful death in the case of Christopher Hawley, a 22-year-old who died the day after he rode X2 and was rushed to the hospital after the ride with severe brain bleeding. The medical examiner’s office said his death was from “blunt head trauma.”

Dordick said the amusement park operator has argued that people are accepting risk by voluntarily going on a thrill ride, and that people who suffer injuries often have preexisting conditions.

“The risk people reasonably assume is they get dizzy, maybe someone might throw up,” Dordick said. “No one goes to a family fun amusement park and assumes the risk of brain damage.”