“The lady basically tumbled over,” she said.
“We heard her screaming. We were, like, ‘Did she just fall?’”
Imagine the horror of being on the world’s steepest dropping roller coaster & watching the person in front of you tumble out of their seat & fly out of the cart into the air. That’s what Joshua Paul Fleak witnessed on Friday. “Just witnessed someone fly off of the Texas Giant two seats in front of me,” he tweeted. “… Coaster turned & she was gone.”
Now try to imagine being on that roller coaster as a little kid sitting next to their mom & watching her
disappear. That’s what one little boy will be forever traumatized with seeing. Upon coming to the end of the ride he was heard screaming, “My mom, my mom — we’ve got to get my mom… she’s gone,” while running towards the track to find her before park employees escorted him away to the safety with the rest of his family.
& finally, imagine if you were the one to plummet to your death after being concerned for your safety & in a state of panic as your ride began, but shrugged off by the park employee that your security bar was fine.
Waking up that day, Rosy Esparza had a 1 in 24 million chance of being seriously injured at a fixed amusement park. Approximately 297 million guests visit the 400 U.S. amusement parks annually and take 1.7 billion safe rides, but she was the 297 millionth – & ONE.
Even with the odds on her side, & the presence of mind to be concerned about her security bar – 
she was no match for what would be her Final Destination. Death would not be cheated. That is what strikingly came to mind when I heard about this horrific story & decided that it had NewsBall worthy aspects to it. First, it didn’t seem to matter about odds, or her alert state of mind & panic before the ride began – she couldn’t avoid fate even though she had a premonition of sorts. Can you imagine what she was thinking in her final seconds before impact through the cross beams & unto the platform below? She KNEW IT. She SENSED something was wrong. Did she blame the park employee in those final seconds? She TRIED to tell him. Or did she think of her little son that traumatically watched her fly out of the seat next to him. Or did she second guess her decision to get on that ride because of her weight? I sit here in a pensive solemn mood pondering that sickening thought.
The second aspect, & what NewsBall is all about, is uncovering the identity of this park employee working the “Texas Giant” Roller Coaster at Six Flags Arlington, Texas for his moment in the spotlight. Their ONLY job is to ensure the security bars are secured against each rider. This is not a case of second guessing & 20/20 hindsight. This woman clearly cried for help & voiced her concerns that the security bar was not locked into place, but the park attendant “was basically nonchalant,” Carmen Brown, waiting next in line, said. “He was, like, ‘As long as you heard it click, you’re fine.’ Hers was the only one that went down once, and she didn’t feel safe. But they let her still get on the ride.” Furthermore, the fact that this was a larger woman should have raised some common sense concerns in the employee – especially once raised by the rider! Customers entrust the supposed “qualified” aspect of employees with such matters, but this mistake cost her life.
& now the investigation begins into what exactly happened. Unless there is a finding that the security bar was fine, & that it not only broke, but it was her weight that caused it, we will seek this park employees name & image for publication as part of our strict policy to name anyone affecting anyone else. We are the news outlet to come to for the rest of a story.
With Texas being at least 1 of 17 states with no state agency to oversee amusement parks or investigations, we hope Six Flags does not try to cover anything up as they lead the investigation THEMSELVES. “A baby stroller is subject to tougher federal regulation than a roller coaster carrying a child in excess of 100 miles per hour,” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass said. He has been trying to pass legislation to force federal regulation of amusement parks since 1999.
This is video footage from the roller coaster from the front row.
She dies at the 45 second to 50 second mark:
Complete news coverage on the death:
& so, if you have any information as to the park employee’s name & have his picture, send to info@NewsBall.com for a reward. He is part of this story, & he must eventually be added to this article. The mass media won’t report his identity, but we will – with the public’s help. We need current employees to reach out to us.
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