A man who recently visited an amusement park in Mason, Ohio, has died at a hospital after being hit by a roller coaster.
The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office announced the death on Monday, and WBNS reported that the victim, 38-year-old Nelson Arntanaro, passed away at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center on Friday.
He had entered one of the park’s restricted areas to retrieve his lost keys at Kings Island when the tragic incident happened. The restricted area was around the Banshee roller coaster, and the man had dropped his keys while he was on the ride.
The victim was found on the ground suffering from an injury, and the coroner’s office is calling his death a “suspected accident,” also noting officials are still investigating the case.
A park employee told Local 12, “Things are not as important as your life. It can wait. There’s a reason you’re not supposed to go back to those areas and it’s not worth it to try and circumvent the security measures and things. They’re there for a purpose. It can get really dangerous really fast,” he said:
The employee said the man approached the greeter at the ride and told them he had lost his keys and needed them in order to leave the park. However, the man was told workers could not retrieve them at the moment and he would have to wait until the park closed down so they could get the keys for him.
But the man was reportedly “agitated” and walked away. A few minutes later other park visitors came up to the workers screaming.
The employee who spoke with Local 12 said some of the riders sitting on the front of the ride had scrapes on their legs and were saying they hit something. The outlet also noted the ride can reach up to 68 mph. It is closed while officials investigate the incident.
Video footage from 2016 shows how fast the ride goes:
Dozens of people were trapped upside down hundreds of feet in the air for over 20 minutes recently when an amusement park ride in Portland, Oregon, quit working, Breitbart News reported June 15.