Hassan Kariem Beat Cancer Twice and Walked Away From a Burning Car. He Didn't Come Home From Six Flags.

ATLANTA

Hassan Kariem had already survived more than most people are ever asked to. Cancer came for him twice, and twice he beat it. Three weeks ago, he and his 10-year-old daughter were in a car that caught fire — and both of them walked away unharmed. On Monday afternoon, on a family day at Six Flags Over Georgia, the 42-year-old Atlanta educator was ejected from the Goliath roller coaster, and this time he did not come home.

Cobb County police identified him Tuesday as Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem of Atlanta. Officers who were working at the park responded at about 3:58 p.m. Monday and found him beneath the ride, unresponsive and not breathing, according to the Cobb County Police Department. Preliminary information gathered through witness and employee interviews indicates Kariem was ejected from the ride, struck other patrons and then fell beneath the attraction, police said. Four other guests were injured, officials told WSB-TV. Police have not released their conditions, and no cause of death has been announced.

It was a holiday crowd. Six Flags Over Georgia, in Austell just northwest of Atlanta, had opened on a Monday for Columbus Day, during fall break for many Atlanta-area schools, CNN reported. Kariem's family told 11Alive he was seated beside his son on the train. Riders on a second train that stopped on the lift hill were walked down a stairway to safety, and the park was evacuated. Previously's first report from Monday is here.

Mr. Kariem

For more than 12 years, Kariem worked at Wesley International Academy, a public charter school in the Atlanta Public Schools system. He started as a technology teacher, became the school's IT manager and coached robotics along the way. To generations of students, he was simply Mr. Kariem.

"The Wesley International Academy community is devastated by the loss of Hassan Kariem," the school said in a statement, calling him a beloved colleague and an integral part of the Wesley family for more than 12 years. Atlanta Public Schools called him "a cherished member of the Wesley International Academy and APS families," and said his presence would be deeply missed by students, staff and everyone whose lives he touched.

Two of his former students told CNN affiliate WANF what he meant to them. Soledad Gomez, who had Kariem as her computer lab teacher, said he inspired her to pursue a degree in elementary education; her brother, Juan Pablo Gomez, said Kariem's class sparked the interest in information technology he is now majoring in. "He never got mad at us," Soledad Gomez said, describing a teacher who was always patient with his students.

Kariem was also, by every account, a man who loved exactly the kind of day Monday was supposed to be. As the New York Post reported, he belonged to a roller coaster enthusiasts' group on Facebook, where members have flooded the page with tributes to a fellow enthusiast. He is survived by his wife and two children.

The survivals

Kariem's family told 11Alive that he had beaten cancer twice, most recently in 2018. And just three weeks before Monday, they said, Kariem and his 10-year-old daughter were in a fiery car crash — and both walked away unharmed.

His sister, Andrea Clark, told the New York Post her brother had survived a car fire she described as crazy about a month ago, and she described him as her hero — the person who made her who she is, she said, and a man who could do it all. She also had a message for people circulating images of his fall online, telling the Post: "That's just evil."

Three investigations, one question

What no one can yet explain is how a rider comes out of a modern hypercoaster. Goliath, built by the Swiss firm Bolliger & Mabillard and opened in 2006, is the park's tallest and fastest ride: a 200-foot drop, speeds up to 70 mph, and trains secured by lap bars, with no seat belts. Detectives with the Cobb County Police Department's Major Crimes Unit are investigating and have asked anyone with information to contact the department.

The Georgia Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire — the state agency that oversees amusement ride safety — has opened its own investigation. "Our investigative team is conducting an in-depth and comprehensive review to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident," the agency said Tuesday. Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John F. King told FOX 5 Atlanta that state inspectors are "on the ground examining the equipment." FOX 5 Atlanta has requested the ride's state inspection records; they have not been made public. Bolliger & Mabillard said it is also investigating the incident and expressed its sympathy for Kariem's family.

James Murray, an attorney who has represented a rider critically injured at another park, told FOX 5 Atlanta that investigators will work through the park's safety protocols, its employees' actions and the ride's design and manufacture — all of it in play at once.

The closures, and what happens next

Six Flags moved quickly beyond its own gates. The company has temporarily closed nine similar coasters at six other parks in the United States and Canada "out of an abundance of caution," a spokeswoman said — among them a second Goliath in California, Nitro in New Jersey and Fury 325 in North Carolina. SeaWorld Orlando, which is not a Six Flags park, closed its own similar coaster, Mako, on its own decision. Previously is tracking the full list of closures. Goliath itself will stay closed, and park president Richard Pretlow told the New York Post the company has no anticipated reopening date for it.

The park around it is expected to reopen this weekend for Fright Fest, the Savannah Morning News reported — Six Flags Over Georgia operates weekends only through November 1 — with its tallest ride standing silent above the midway. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has not been reported to represent the family, posted on Threads after Kariem was identified: "He deserved to come home from a day at the amusement park. His family deserves answers."

Those answers are likely to take time. Fatal accidents on roller coasters are rare — the Associated Press counts six other deaths on coasters across the country since 2003 — and investigators have offered no timeline for their findings. What is already certain is the shape of the loss at one Atlanta school, where the man who taught the computer classes, ran the network and coached the robotics team will not be back. Wesley International Academy has asked its community to keep Kariem's family in their thoughts and to respect their privacy.