22-year-old dies of brain injury after Six Flags coaster ‘violently’ stops, CA suit says

A 22-year-old had a brain hemorrhage and died after riding a “fifth dimension” roller coaster with rotating seats at Six Flags Magic Mountain, according to a lawsuit filed by his parents.

Christopher Hawley’s shearing brain injury and death was caused by the defectively designed X2 roller coaster at the park in Valencia, located in Los Angeles County, California, where Hawley visited with his younger brother and cousin in June 2022, the lawsuit says.

A shearing brain injury, when the brain tears, is a traumatic injury that occurs from the organ suddenly shifting and rotating inside a person’s skull, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Anne and William Hawley, Christopher Hawley’s parents, and their attorneys announced the lawsuit in a March 18 news release, one year after they filed an amended complaint against several parties.

The lawsuit was brought against Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, its subsidiary Magic Mountain LLC and S&S Worldwide Inc., as defendants. It also names a few people who worked at Magic Mountain when Christopher Hawley died as defendants.

Six Flags and S&S Worldwide, the successor of the company that designed the X2 coaster, didn’t immediately return McClatchy News’ requests for comment March 19.

“We want to make sure that that ride isn’t going to kill somebody else,” William Hawley told news outlets during a video call, the Orange County Register reported.

“They won’t explain to us what happened. They’ve essentially gone dark. The only way we’ve been able to contact them is through our attorney.”

Before his death, Christopher Hawley had graduated from San Diego State University and was in “excellent health,” according to the lawsuit.

He died the day after the ride

With his brother and cousin sitting behind him, according to his family’s attorneys, Christopher Hawley sat in a row by himself on the X2 roller coaster during what the complaint describes as an “extremely rough” ride.

“As X2 approached its conclusion, the ride suddenly, abruptly, and violently jolted to a halt, jarring Decedent Christopher Hawley and the other two boys in their seats,” the complaint says.

The seats of the roller coaster, according to Six Flags, rotate 360 degrees. The ride features several drops, goes upside down and reaches speeds up to 76 mph as well as heights up to 200 feet.

Though it’s described as a “fifth dimension” coaster by Six Flags, the complaint says it’s a “fourth-dimension” coaster.

After Christopher Hawley got off the ride, he began to falter as he walked down an off-ramp, according to the complaint.

His brother and cousin saw him trying to steady himself using the ramp’s handrail, the complaint says.

Christopher Hawley, who was moving slowly, mentioned to them that he was experiencing head pain, then “knelt down, and slumped onto his side,” according to the complaint.

“His cousin supported him down to the ground, placing one hand on his back and one hand on his head,” the complaint says.

Christopher Hawley became unconscious and was taken to a medical tent at Six Flags before he was rushed to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia, according to the complaint.

In an emergency room, a CT scan revealed Christopher Hawley had an “extensive” brain bleed, the complaint says.

Medical staff determined his “catastrophic” injury was caused by a “roller coaster accident,” according to the complaint, which says that “despite massive (blood) transfusions, decedent Christopher Hawley had already lost a significant amount of blood.”

Christopher Hawley died the next day, on June 24, 2022, according to the complaint.

The complaint says that the X2 coaster was briefly closed following Christopher Hawley’s visit to Magic Mountain before it reopened to riders.

‘Defective design’

“This is not the first time someone has sustained a serious injury as a result of riding X2,” Christopher Hawley’s family’s attorney, Ari Friedman, of Los Angeles-based Wisner Baum, said in the news release. “X2 has been linked to previous incidents, where people received whiplash, head and leg injuries, and more, from the ride’s sudden shuddering and jolts.”

According to the lawsuit, the safety warnings posted at Magic Mountain about X2 are inadequate and outdated.

Park visitors aren’t clearly warned about the injuries that can result from the ride, the complaint says.

Within the past year, a Reddit user asked in a thread posted to the online platform whether “anyone else experienced bad whiplash” from X2.

In the post, the user wrote that while they had a great time visiting Magic Mountain in May, they felt the ride was unusually rough for a roller coaster.

Toward the end of the ride, the user detailed experiencing a “sudden jolt” that caused them to lurch forward, “followed by a force” that caused their head to slam back into the headrest of their seat.

The archived post has 19 comments. New comments can’t be added because it’s archived, according to Reddit.

“Unfortunately that is a part of the ride that you need to know is coming and brace for,” one Reddit user commented.

In another comment left by a different user, they wrote that the ride’s final turn is “infamous for being ridiculously rough.”

They added that they rode X2 16 times in a span of two days.

Meanwhile, Christopher Hawley’s parents are suing on multiple causes of action, including design defect, failure to warn, negligent product design, negligent failure to warn, negligence and premises liability, the complaint shows.

“The defective design of X2 was a substantial factor and legal cause of Decedent Christopher Hawley’s harm, including death,” the complaint says.

His parents are seeking an unspecified amount in damages over the loss of their son. They’re demanding a jury trial.

This story was originally published March 19, 2025 at 1:34 PM with the headline "22-year-old dies of brain injury after Six Flags coaster ‘violently’ stops, CA suit says."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.