Warning: This article contains topics of death which may be disturbing for some readers.
We might not like having our freedoms infringed upon here in the United States of America, but sometimes, restrictions are necessary for our safety. One Ohio man learned that the hard way after blowing past clear warning signs at an amusement park in a bid to recover his lost keys, and the mistake cost him his life.
The incident, which gained viral attention on TikTok, occurred at the Cincinnati Ohio amusement park, King’s Island. Arntanaro Nelson, 38, was visiting the park with his two children when he realized he’d lost his keys. The trio had just come off The Banshee, a 4,124-foot-long ride with a max speed of just under 70 mph, famous for its seven inversions.
Initially, Nelson approached the ride’s greeter for assistance. One anonymous park employee said he was “very distraught” and insisted he needed his keys immediately. He was rebuffed, however — lost items are only collected at the end of the day when the rides are off. Employees told him it wouldn’t be safe to grab his keys until the ride was powered down. The high speeds make the trains all but impossible to avoid and falling objects can cause serious harm to anyone walking beneath the ride.
Employees noticed the agitated man rejoin the line, but quickly lost sight of him. It wasn’t until the coaster’s train rolled into the station with a load of horrified passengers that staff realized something was seriously amiss. The riders were covered in fresh abrasions, and an employee recalled seeing one passenger coated with blood.
Employees say that blood on passenger’s faces is more common than one might think. The extreme speeds, violent turns, and pressure from loop-the-loops have even been known to cause brain bleeds, but it was clear to employees that this was not your run-of-the-mill nosebleed.
“It was very ominous, and they were like, ‘Oh my God. What’s happening? What happened?’,” one ride operator said. It wasn’t until he saw the body lying on the ground that he knew how urgent the situation was.
Passengers were convinced they had struck a deer along the track, but those in front hadn’t had time to process what they had seen. Those in the back, according to one rider, were completely oblivious. They sat on the ride for more than 20 minutes before the sound of sirens told them something was amiss.
“Workers at Kings Island did a very good job of controlling the situation,” Fox said. “Especially after an incident like that. They made sure not to create a panic between all of the passengers.”
The area where the collision took place was roughly five feet above the ground and over a stretch where the ride reached its maximum speed. The stretch of track was hidden behind two fences and multiple warning signs; it was situated in an area where access required keys — keys that can only be retrieved when the ride is turned off.
Nelson survived the initial collision and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. State inspectors arrived on the scene the following day and cleared the ride to reopen once their investigation concluded.
Nelson died in the hospital two days later. The ride reopened the morning after his death.
Folks on TikTok were quick to empathize with Nelson’s children and his desperation to go home after a long day in the sun. “His kids were waiting for him,” one wrote with a crying emoji.
Others were less sympathetic, “I lost my eyeglasses a few weeks ago. I’m legally blind without them. Never once did I even consider going into the restricted area to get them.”
“He needed to leave the park or his life?” one queried.
“It’s almost like there’s locked gates around… the roller coaster for a reason,” added another, with more than a tinge of sarcasm.
Mr. Nelson is far from the first person to die due to negligence. Approximately four people a year die from roller coasters in the U.S. alone. Though most of these are cardiac or neurological-related damages, a tragic number of them revolve around guests failing to heed safety regulations.
In case you need a wake-up call on why those signs exist, let the unfortunate number of similar incidents serve as a grizzly reminder.
