A 42-year-old Atlanta Public Schools IT manager who had survived cancer and a car fire died Monday after falling from the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia, a 200-foot hypercoaster in Fulton County.
Hassan Kariem had been in remission from cancer since 2015 and had escaped a “crazy” car fire just weeks before his death, according to his sister, Andrea Clark, 35, who spoke to the New York Post.
“He’s an amazing person,” Clark said. “The coolest part about me was him.”
Clark described her brother as “my hero” and said she could not reconcile how someone who had survived so much could die in an accident at the park.
“He had other issues, but he’s healthy, he was able-bodied. I don’t understand it,” Clark said.
She recalled that Kariem worked hard to provide for his family and had helped raise his fiancée’s daughter since the child was 3 years old. “He could do it all,” she said.
Clark also condemned the spread of graphic images and footage showing her brother’s fall, calling on people to stop circulating them.
“That’s just evil,” Clark said. “It’s tragic, and I feel like we’ve gone too far as a society.”
A parkgoer who told local outlet WXIA that Kariem had appeared in the ride’s souvenir photo said he “fell and hit the car three different times” during the incident.
The Goliath coaster reaches speeds up to 70 mph and includes a 170-foot initial drop, a second 175-foot drop and a 540-degree spiral, according to the park.
Atlanta Public Schools confirmed Kariem worked for the district as an IT manager and offered condolences to his family.
Six Flags said it is cooperating with investigators and has temporarily closed similar coasters at other parks nationwide as a precaution. Authorities have not yet determined what caused Kariem to fall from the ride.
