COBB COUNTY, Ga. — According to a relative, Hassan Kariem was at the park celebrating his niece’s birthday when he fell to his death from the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia on Monday.
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His niece was reportedly seated beside him when he was ejected from the Goliath roller coaster mid-ride, just before 4 p.m. Monday, ABC News reports.
Police confirmed Kariem “struck other patrons before falling beneath the attraction,” with officers finding him there “unresponsive and not breathing.”
Kariem now being remembered as a deeply loved educator and IT manager, working over a decade in Atlanta Public Schools at Wesley International Academy.
“He was a good person. All the scholars that he taught loved him,” Atiya Kariem said.
Six Flags Over Georgia is set to reopen Friday as investigators work to determine what caused Kariem to fall die earlier this week.
Channel 2 Action News reported one of his relatives took to Instagram, urging people to stop circulating images of the incident, calling it “very degrading, distasteful, and extremely insensitive.”
“I’m making this video on behalf of my cousin’s mother, my aunt and the rest of our family,” the cousin, Arabia, said on an Instagram video.
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