A tragic end to a birthday celebration
It was supposed to be a standard 13th birthday celebration for a young girl at Six Flags Over Georgia. Instead, it turned into a scene out of a nightmare. Her uncle, 42-year-old Hassan Kariem—a well-loved technology teacher at Wesley International Academy—was riding the Goliath coaster alongside her when something went horribly wrong just before 4 p.m. this past Monday.
According to the niece, the ride became a terrifying ordeal. Her father, Joshua Nelson, shared that his daughter called him in a panic after the accident. "She said he fainted, or he passed out," Nelson told WSBTV. She then described a moment where the coaster's restraint apparently failed, leading to a fatal fall.
The aftermath
When Kariem fell, he didn't just land beneath the attraction; police report he was ejected and struck four other parkgoers during the fall. While those four children were rushed to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Kariem was found unresponsive by first responders. Six Flags supervisor KeJuan Taylor, who was the first to reach him, described the experience as "genuinely horrifying."
Kariem’s wife, Eboni, was waiting outside the ride when the news broke that someone had died. It’s giving heartbreaking, as she immediately feared the worst before it was confirmed. The Goliath coaster, which clocks in at 70 mph and hits 200 feet, is now closed while the Cobb County Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit and state officials investigate how the latch could have come loose.
Why it matters
For a community that lost a dedicated educator, this is a heavy L. The investigation into the Goliath ride's safety protocols is ongoing, and while the park is reopening this Friday, the ride itself will remain off-limits until officials get to the bottom of this tragedy.
