Teen beheaded by roller coaster

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-30  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

AN American teenager was decapitated by a roller coaster after he hopped a pair of fences and entered a restricted area at an amusement park in Georgia, authorities said.

Park officials are uncertain why the unidentified 17-year-old from Columbia, South Carolina, scaled two 2-meter fences and passed signs that said the restricted area was both off-limits and dangerous to visitors, spokeswoman Hela Sheth said at the weekend.

Authorities were investigating reports from witnesses who said the teenager jumped the fences to retrieve a hat he lost while riding the Batman roller coaster, said Cobb County police Sergeant Dana Pierce.

Police have declined to release the teenager's name until an autopsy is completed.

Six Flags Over Georgia park said it closed the roller coaster after the Saturday afternoon accident out of respect for the teen's family. The ride is expected to reopen today, a spokeswoman said.

Police said the ride was going full-speed when the teen was struck. The ride's top speed is 80 kilometers per hour.

No one riding on the roller coaster was injured. The teen was with another boy who also entered the restricted area but was not injured, police said.

The teen and his parents were at the park with a group from the Oakey Spring Baptist Church near Springfield, South Carolina, police said.

In May 2002, 58-year-old groundskeeper Samuel Milton Guyton was killed after he wandered in a restricted area under the Batman roller coaster's path and was struck in the head by the dangling leg of one of the ride's passengers. The ride was later declared safe after an inspection.