An Arizona man had a narrow escape at the Castles N’ Coasters theme park in Phoenix when he noticed the safety bar on the roller coaster had come loose and made a split-second decision to jump off, avoiding a potential tragedy.
The man, who chose to remain anonymous, told NBC affiliate KPNX that he was at the park last week celebrating his niece’s birthday. Faced with a moment of terror, he said, “I only had a few seconds to decide whether to stay or jump off.”
He believes that jumping off saved him from serious injury.
A video captured from the ground (jump to), shows a figure struggling to climb out of the coaster car as it slowly ascends toward the top.
He said, “We were climbing up, you hear that usual click-click of a roller coaster.”
“As we’re close to the top, I hear a different click, the sound was different from the chain lifting us up, so I double-checked the safety bar and found it loose,” the man said.
In a split-second decision, he decided to climb out of the car and jump off to safety.
The roller coaster, named “Desert Storm,” flips upside down twice and moves at a high speed.
If the man had continued on the ride, he would have likely been thrown out of the car when it plunged down. The video shows him standing up, grabbing onto the overhead support, and leaving his seat just before the coaster sharply descended.
He criticized the park operators for only noticing the incident after he had reached the ground.
“She (referring to the staff) should have been watching the car the entire time, when she saw me climbing out, she should have immediately hit the emergency button to brake,” the man said.
He added that the operators had only glanced at the safety bars before the train departed, without conducting a thorough check.
“I pushed my safety bar. She looked (and then) she walked away,” the man said.
He mentioned that he had filed an incident report with the park and called for changes to be made to regulations in Arizona to regulate amusement parks.
Arizona is one of the eight states that do not regulate amusement parks, despite state laws requiring annual inspections and purchasing insurance for amusement facilities.
“There needs to be a 100% change! I believe all amusement parks that involve human safety need better regulation,” the man said.
Castles N’ Coasters theme park has not responded to the incident.