An Arizona man made a split-second decision on a roller coaster that he said may have saved his life. The man, who did not want his name used, jumped from a moving roller coaster seat just before the cars went down a large drop.
The man was riding the double loop coaster called the Desert Storm at Castles N’ Coasters park near Phoenix on Nov. 24.
He said that the safety bar unlocked before the big drop, KPHO reported. A video captured him standing up on his seat and then hopping onto the stairs just before the cars went down the hill and into the loops.
“We start the climb, and you hear the click of the chain of the normal roller coaster,” the man told KPNX . “We get just about to the top and I hear a click different from the click of the chain taking us up and so, I checked my lap bar one last time and it released.”
“It was just adrenaline, and I didn’t want to die that day,” he said. “As soon as the lap bar went up, I just didn’t really think about it, I just jumped out.”
He said that the ride operator looked at the bar’s position before sending the cars on the ride but didn’t physically check them.
“I pushed up on mine. She looked. She walked away,” the man said.
He said that the ride operator didn’t notice what happened until he reached the ground.
He told KSAZ, “I told her my lap bar came up, and she yelled at me, ‘I told you to check it.’ And I just walked down the stairs and kind of broke down because the adrenaline was so much.”
He said he was at the park to celebrate his niece’s birthday, KPNX reported.
“I think the worst part is having the kids there and knowing it could have been one of them,” the man told the station. “It shouldn’t cost your life to have fun.”
He said he filed an incident report along with witnesses with Castles N’ Coasters officials but did not receive a copy.
Arizona does not have a government office that oversees theme parks or amusement rides, but the state requires property owners to have rides inspected each year and to have insurance.
The only issues that are reported to the state are ones involving severe injuries or deaths, KSAZ reported.
NBC News, KSAZ, KPNX and KPHO contacted the park but none received a response.
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