Hair-raising video captured the moment an Arizona man climbed out of a moving rollercoaster after his seat’s safety bar became unlatched near the ride’s peak — a split-second decision he says saved his life.
The man, who did not want to be named or shown on camera, told News 12 he was celebrating his niece’s birthday at Castles N’ Coasters in Phoenix last Sunday when the safety bar on a double-loop roller coaster unfastened seconds into the ride.
“I think the worst part for me was having the kids there and knowing it could have been one of them,” he told the outlet. “It shouldn’t cost your life to have fun.”
The birthday party group had gone on several more tame rides without issue before boarding Desert Storm, a fast roller coaster that loops upside down twice.
“We start the climb, and you hear the click of the chain of the normal roller coaster,” the man said. “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.”
Video taken from the ground shows the man climbing out of the ride’s car and onto the catwalk as the coaster climbs upward.
“I had mere seconds to act on whether I stayed on or got off,” he said. “I just started to climb down because I wanted off of that.”
To make matters worse, he said the ride’s operator did not notice what went wrong until he was on the ground.
“She should have been watching that car and when she saw me climbing out she should have been able to hit an emergency release, should have been able to do something,” the man said.
Before the ride began the man said the lap bar latched into place, but the operator didn’t physically check them.
“I pushed up on mine. She looked. She walked away,” he said.
Arizona is one of eight states that does not regulate its amusement parks, though state law requires rides to be inspected annually and to carry insurance.
The man said that “100 percent needs to change.”
“I think all amusement parks that have people’s lives in their hands need to be better regulated,” he said.
The man said he filed a report with the park but was not given a copy.
“I think the scariest part was the negligence on their part and just the absolute carelessness that they had throughout the entire thing,” he said.
Castles N’ Coasters did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment Wednesday morning.
