Six Flags roller coaster safety restraints were 'clicking weird' before dad fell to his death, as eyewitnesses said he struck coaster three times in fatal accident

The safety restraints on Georgia's tallest rollercoaster had been making an unusual 'clicking' sound before a father-of-two plummeted to his death, witnesses claim.

Hassan Kariem, 42, was riding the Goliath rollercoaster with his son at Six Flags Over Georgia just before 4pm on Monday when he was thrown from his seat in front of horrified passengers and struck the ride three times before his fatal fall.

Authorities are now investigating exactly what went wrong on the ride, which has been a staple of the theme park since 2006.

But witnesses have claimed that the restraints on the rollercoaster, which reaches heights of over 200 feet, had been making a 'weird clicking' noise – prompting park staff to check the restraints 'multiple times' before the car Kariem and his son were in took off.

'It would unlock and lock, unlock and lock. It kept clicking like it was unlocking and relocking,' an unidentified woman who was also on the ride told WSB-TV.

'Every time, it would click they would come by and push down on the restraint... they triple and quadruple checked,' her male companion added.

The couple said they had ridden the rollercoaster many times before, and staff usually only checked the restraints just once unless there was a problem. 

Cobb County police now say it appears Kariem was 'ejected from the ride and struck other patrons before falling beneath the attraction.'

When officers then arrived at the scene, they found him unresponsive behind a haunted house attraction that had been set up for Halloween.

Following the horrific incident, images started to circulate on social media showing Kariem falling headfirst over other riders and off of the rollercoaster, as families and small children recoiled in horror.

'The man started levitating in the air sideways, come back [and hit the cart],' witness Logan Conner, who was on the rollercoaster with his fiancée, told WXIA.

'The cart went back up in the air, flipped, came down, [he] hit the cart, went back up in the air, came down, hit the cart again and then the ride stopped.

'As the last hit happened... we made direct eye contact with him,' Conner noted.

His fiancée was later seen crying as she tried to describe what they had witnessed in a video taken after the couple got off the ride, which was evacuated in the aftermath.

'The Goliath at Six Flags just launched a man out of his seat, three times on our car,' she said through tears. 

Another rider said the victim fell at the moment that the roller coaster was 'ascending up,' and immediately others 'heard a scream.'

'We looked down, and we see people running and panicking,' he said.

After Kariem was identified as the victim, Atlanta Public Schools said in a statement that he would be remembered as a beloved educator and technology professional in the district. 

'He was a cherished member of the Wesley International Academy and APS families whose presence and impact will be deeply missed by our students, staff, and all those whose lives he touched,' the school district said. 

'Our thoughts are with everyone mourning his loss during this difficult time.'

It remains unclear what may have caused the tragedy.

But park officials said they have temporarily closed the Goliath, along with a number of other rides at Six Flags attractions across the nation 'out of an abundance of caution.'

The tragedy comes just one month after Six Flags Magic Mountain in California announced it was demolishing its notorious X2 roller coaster, following a series of lawsuits alleging it had caused severe injuries to riders.

The theme park operator had settled a wrongful-death lawsuit from the family of 22-year-old Christopher Hawley, who died after riding the coaster in 2022, and three other lawsuits alleging traumatic brain injuries were filed.

The ride had then been closed since the evening of July 12, after two women who rode the coaster less than a week apart needed to be rushed to the hospital.

One of them, 25-year-old Naomi Greer-Wilkinson, collapsed shortly after the ride ended and was found to have massive brain bleeding inside the skull that required emergency brain surgery.

She now remains in a vegetative state in the hospital, unable to speak or move and dependent on a ventilator.

Her family has filed a lawsuit against Six Flags on her behalf, with her attorneys saying that more than 100 people have claimed they suffered brain injuries from the roller coaster over the past two years.

Another woman, 40-year-old Pamela Guillen, suffered severe brain hemorrhages after riding the X2 at Six Flags in Valencia, California.

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.'

More lawsuits would be filed in the coming weeks, the lawyers then vowed.