Tragically Horrifying and Incredibly Stupid

[FloFTW]

A man at Cedar Point Amusement Park entered a restricted area (by jumping a really tall fence) to look for his cell phone and was struck and killed by the Raptor roller coaster. I fucking love Cedar Point, and the Raptor is one of my favorite rides. I am so sad for his family and for everyone that had to witness this. But what the HELL, dude?

www.newsnet5.com/news/local-news/oh-erie/man-dies-after-he-was-struck-by-the-raptor-roller-coaster-at-cedar-point

[NewOrleans]

Oh my

[polarbearfans]

I saw this. I feel bad for the guy and his family... But I just cannot believe someone would enter a restricted area around a roller coaster. It's restricted for a reason. Nothing is that important. A park official can look after close.

[FloFTW]

And he was a teacher.

[penguingrrl]

That's really sad.

[IIOY]

At the risk of making this all about me - OK, I'm making this all about me - I have actually had dreams in which I've lost my phone and had to do dangerous things to retrieve it. I may be a bit too attached. Possibly.

[Deleted]

Aug 14, 2015 8:37:46 GMT -5 IIOY said:

At the risk of making this all about me - OK, I'm making this all about me - I have actually had dreams in which I've lost my phone and had to do dangerous things to retrieve it. I may be a bit too attached. Possibly.

I always worry that I will drop it in the subway. And then I wonder if I would quickly jump on and out before the train arrives
I wouldn't. I love my phone but I know that my upper body strength would mean I would have to live in the subway tunnels forever.

[IIOY]

Aug 14, 2015 8:42:17 GMT -5 @hannymaren said:

Aug 14, 2015 8:37:46 GMT -5 IIOY said:

At the risk of making this all about me - OK, I'm making this all about me - I have actually had dreams in which I've lost my phone and had to do dangerous things to retrieve it. I may be a bit too attached. Possibly.

I always worry that I will drop it in the subway. And then I wonder if I would quickly jump on and out before the train arrives
I wouldn't. I love my phone but I know that my upper body strength would mean I would have to live in the subway tunnels forever.

[MrsAxilla]

Aug 14, 2015 8:36:12 GMT -5 FloFTW said:

And he was a teacher.

Oh man.  I don't know why this makes it worse to me.

[ESF]

Aug 14, 2015 8:37:46 GMT -5 IIOY said:

At the risk of making this all about me - OK, I'm making this all about me - I have actually had dreams in which I've lost my phone and had to do dangerous things to retrieve it. I may be a bit too attached. Possibly.

It's funny you say this. Yesterday, I was leaving court and I dropped my phone right outside my car. The damn thing bounced to the middle of underneath the car. To get it back, I would have to lay on the ground in my suit.

I briefly contemplated carefully backing the car up and then retrieving after that, but even though there was like a zero chance I would have run it over, I couldn't bear the thought that it might happen.

So I had to lay on the ground in the parking lot in my suit. My arm still couldn't reach it so I had to take off my shoe to swat it over to me.

While this was going on, people were walking by. There I was, on my stomach flailing around under the car, and nobody asked if I was ok. Wtf people.

[ESF]

And I've hijacked the thread. Poor man.

[IIOY]

Aug 14, 2015 9:00:27 GMT -5 ESF said:

Aug 14, 2015 8:37:46 GMT -5 IIOY said:

At the risk of making this all about me - OK, I'm making this all about me - I have actually had dreams in which I've lost my phone and had to do dangerous things to retrieve it. I may be a bit too attached. Possibly.

So I had to lay on the ground in the parking lot in my suit. My arm still couldn't reach it so I had to take off my shoe to swat it over to me.

I would absolutely, totally do this.

[Deleted]

Aug 14, 2015 9:00:27 GMT -5 ESF said:

Aug 14, 2015 8:37:46 GMT -5 IIOY said:

At the risk of making this all about me - OK, I'm making this all about me - I have actually had dreams in which I've lost my phone and had to do dangerous things to retrieve it. I may be a bit too attached. Possibly.

It's funny you say this. Yesterday, I was leaving court and I dropped my phone right outside my car. The damn thing bounced to the middle of underneath the car. To get it back, I would have to lay on the ground in my suit.

I briefly contemplated carefully backing the car up and then retrieving after that, but even though there was like a zero chance I would have run it over, I couldn't bear the thought that it might happen.

So I had to lay on the ground in the parking lot in my suit. My arm still couldn't reach it so I had to take off my shoe to swat it over to me.

While this was going on, people were walking by. There I was, on my stomach flailing around under the car, and nobody asked if I was ok. Wtf people.

You hijacked the thread but it was awesome.

[WOT?*]

I am Girl Scout camping this week. I'm having to keep my phone in my back pocket of my jeans. My absolute greatest fear has not been keeping twelve fourth graders active and engaged, being among 250+ elementary age students, not screwing up the flag ceremony, getting lost in the woods, getting a girl lost in the woods, (we had to call the police on a man who was entering campsites and stole food and a cooler earlier this week so that was fun!) or getting mauled by wild bunnies or something (just a pet dog jumping up on me, no wild bunnies). My greatest fear has been that my phone falls into Honey Bucket. The second time I used it, it fell out of my back pocket - thankfully by the door.  I even had buttons on my jean pockets, which I forgot to fasten after I'd used my phone (wtf, me?)  Needless to say, I've been holding it for as long as possible or heading to headquarters "for a water."

[NewOrleans]

What is the Raptor-- a regular roller coaster? One of those things that drops a room down a giant shaft? I don't understand how it could hit him, I guess.

[FloFTW]

Aug 14, 2015 9:12:43 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

What is the Raptor-- a regular roller coaster? One of those things that drops a room down a giant shaft? I don't understand how it could hit him, I guess.

It's an inverted coaster. The track is above you, the car suspended from the track. Your feet actually dangle from the seat.

Another layer of horror is imagining being on the train when it hit him.

[pixy0stix]

Aug 14, 2015 9:12:43 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

What is the Raptor-- a regular roller coaster? One of those things that drops a room down a giant shaft? I don't understand how it could hit him, I guess.

I'm horrified that people hit him, not just the ride.

[FloFTW]

This is the Raptor.

[moolarkey]

This is right across from the marina where we keep our boat. We were not there at the time but going up tonight for the weekend. The ride is fast, moves with a lot of force. I am so sorry for his family and friends and those that were on the ride at the time. Many of us do things without thinking them through and don't have tragic consequences but this one did.

[NewOrleans]

Holy shit. PEOPLE hit him. That is even more horrible than what I was picturing.

[WOT?*]

Aug 14, 2015 9:12:43 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

What is the Raptor-- a regular roller coaster? One of those things that drops a room down a giant shaft? I don't understand how it could hit him, I guess.

It's one where you sit in a seat with your legs hanging down and a harness holding you in the seat; the seat is attached to the track above your head.  Twisty, turny and loopy.  Really fun for the adrenaline junkie.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldm1jCYsqWs

I'm imagining (to my horror) that it was somebody's feet or the bottom of their seat that hit and killed him.

[FloFTW]

It's hard to tell from the photos but there is steel that projects farther than your feet. And the area where it happened is really curvy, and you're still going really fast, so I'm doubting the people on the train saw him. But yeah. Fucking horrifying.

They stopped the ride (obviously) for paramedics to get in there safely, and there were people stopped on the lift hill with a clear view of it all. I just...a really sad day there.

[CallingAllAngels]

Good god, I want to vomit thinking of people hitting him. How horrible for everyone involved.

[FloFTW]

I think he actually had to jump multiple fences, and was far within the zone. The coaster comes from the top of the photo. There's a big security fence (green line) but then there's also a decorative fence on top of a stone wall that is like, 10 feet tall, around the midway.

[marshmallowmars]

Aug 14, 2015 9:00:27 GMT -5 ESF said:

Aug 14, 2015 8:37:46 GMT -5 IIOY said:

At the risk of making this all about me - OK, I'm making this all about me - I have actually had dreams in which I've lost my phone and had to do dangerous things to retrieve it. I may be a bit too attached. Possibly.

It's funny you say this. Yesterday, I was leaving court and I dropped my phone right outside my car. The damn thing bounced to the middle of underneath the car. To get it back, I would have to lay on the ground in my suit.

I briefly contemplated carefully backing the car up and then retrieving after that, but even though there was like a zero chance I would have run it over, I couldn't bear the thought that it might happen.

So I had to lay on the ground in the parking lot in my suit. My arm still couldn't reach it so I had to take off my shoe to swat it over to me.

While this was going on, people were walking by. There I was, on my stomach flailing around under the car, and nobody asked if I was ok. Wtf people.

This exact same thing happened to me once except it was outside a fast food restaurant and my phone bounced underneath someone else's car. I laid on the ground but couldn't reach it so I had to go into the restaurant and ask the person to back their car out so I could get my phone.

[msmerymac]

Did he drop the phone while on the ride? Because, dude, it's gone.

[FloFTW]

Aug 14, 2015 9:50:57 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Did he drop the phone while on the ride? Because, dude, it's gone.

Yep. If it was retrievable, the park closes down and inspects the ride and collects personal items every night. He could have gotten it back the next day.

[Jenniatonu]

When I was in High School, I worked at Six Flags. I personally had to yell at a guy once who entered cast area, trying to jump the fence into a roller coaster area, to retrieve his hat. I had to call security because he refused to listen.

Two years later at another six flags park, at another inverted rollercoaster, a teenager was decapitated because he did the exact same thing.

[sangria]

Well the upside here is that I'd much rather be killed by a roller coaster than baked in a tuna oven. So there's that.

[CallingAllAngels]

Aug 14, 2015 11:00:27 GMT -5 sangria said:

Well the upside here is that I'd much rather be killed by a roller coaster than baked in a tuna oven. So there's that.

At least in a tuna oven, it's a private death.  I have a phobia of dying in a gruesome public way.  And of my remains having to be scraped off the ground.  This roller coaster thing is pretty much my worst nightmare.