A family is alleging the Six Flags Magic Mountain ride X2 is responsible for a traumatic brain injury that resulted in the death of their 22-year-old son, who was otherwise in perfect health, according to a lawsuit scheduled for a hearing in Chatsworth next month.
The family of Christopher
Hawley, of Garden Grove, said in their wrongful death lawsuit that his June 23, 2022, trip to the “Thrill Capital of the World” resulted in a “tragic and preventable incident.”
Six Flags Magic Mountain did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday but one of the lawsuit’s defendants filed a 13-page response denying the claims in April.
The lawsuit appears to quote several claims by the park regarding its “fifth-dimension roller-coaster,” including the unique way its seats feature 360-degree spins and the “head-first face down drops.”
However, the lawsuit also makes claims about a unique legal fight behind the ride’s origins, which date back to the summer of 2001, and include problems with the ride that have cost the theme park more than $55 million.
X, as it was originally known, didn’t open until January 2002 due to design flaws, per the lawsuit, and ultimately resulted in Arrow Dynamics filing bankruptcy because Six Flags expanded the scope of the ride from its original specifications, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit claims that, as a result, the park finished construction of the ride, led by Tim Burkhart, a retired Six Flags executive and current city planning commissioner who was general manager of the park’s construction at the time. As a result, the lawsuit alleges, the ride was not as smooth as designed.
Burkhart said he was not aware of the particulars of the lawsuit when reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
The lawsuit claims the ride was dogged by subsequent “functionality issues,” which caused it to shut down for design changes in June 2002, and then again in December 2007 for a redesign.
It opened again in 2008 as X2, only to break down again in September 2013, and it’s been reopened with a single train since 2014, according to the lawsuit.
The Hawleys’ lawsuit states when Christopher Hawley, his younger brother and their cousin went on X2 in June 2022, it “jerked its riders around like rag dolls,” and as the ride ended, X2 “suddenly, abruptly, and violently jolted to a halt, jarring decedent Christopher Hawley and the other two boys in their seats.”
After Christopher Hawley exited the ride, he haltingly walked off, clutched the rail and then collapsed after his cousin and brother came to his side, according to the lawsuit. He passed out and never regained consciousness.
Hawley was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, according to the lawsuit, where the emergency room doctors diagnosed Hawley with a catastrophic right subdural hematoma resulting from a “roller coaster accident.”
The recent San Diego State University graduate’s condition gradually deteriorated to brain death while he was in the hospital.
His toxicology screening came back negative, and the L.A. County Medical Examiner determined his cause of death to be “blunt force trauma.”
The lawsuit claims the ride was shut down temporarily and then resumed operation that same day.
The plaintiffs claim that both staff and park guests have complained about the ride before and there’s been previous litigation.
In a 13-page answer filed in April 2024, one of the defendants, S & S Worldwide, which touts itself as an “international leader in creating, innovating, designing, engineering, and manufacturing amusement rides,” denied the claims in the lawsuit.
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