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Longer version from the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

A New Orleans woman who made a spur-of-the-moment visit to Six Flags New Orleans as a treat for her 4-year-old grandson Wednesday evening died after being hit by a car on one of the theme park's newest rides, authorities and family members said.

Rosa Donaldson, 52, was inside the perimeter railing, strapping her grandson D'Kota into an attraction called The Joker's Jukebox at about 6:30 p.m., when the operator started the ride, police said. According to accounts gathered by Donaldson's family, one of the ride's spinning cars slammed into Donaldson's head, then a second car struck her in the abdomen.

Donaldson died before reaching Lakeland Medical Center of massive bleeding and internal injuries caused by blunt force trauma, a coroner's spokesman said. A bone fragment from Donaldson's crushed ribs apparently severed a major artery, said Donaldson's sister, Dianne Bowens.

"The nurse said she was dead by the time she arrived," Bowens said. "Basically, she bled to death."

Police are investigating the death, which they are calling an accident. Six Flags officials said they are cooperating fully with the investigation.

"We're not clear at this point as to why she was in the ride area. We're not clear how this accident occurred," said Ann Wills, public relations director for Six Flags New Orleans. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family. It is a tragic accident and we are cooperating fully with the state fire marshal's office and the police."

Unusual procedure

Industry experts questioned why a park visitor was so near a ride when it started. Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services, said ride operators are required to make sure that riders are buckled in properly and that no one is in the ride area before starting the ride.

"There should be no access for the public to go into the ride," Speigel said. "I don't understand why a person was inside checking the loading.

"It's highly unusual," he said.

D'Kota and his mother live in Columbus, Ga., but in what had become a much-anticipated family tradition, Donaldson would take care of her only grandchild for the summer, doting on the child as only a grandmother could. This year, she went all out, Bowens said, buying season passes to the Audubon Zoo, Aquarium of the Americas, Louisiana Children's Museum and Six Flags New Orleans. Donaldson had taken her grandson to the theme park many times during the past two months, Bowens said.

"My sister loved Six Flags and D'Kota thought it was the best thing in the world. He'd sit quiet in church just so he could go," she said.

Midweek surprise

Donaldson, a state employee since 1973, worked as a supervisor in the Office of Family Support in Metairie. After she left work on Wednesday, she picked up D'Kota at day-care as she did every day, but instead of returning to her Mid-City home, she apparently made an impromptu decision to go to the amusement park, Bowens said.

Usually, Donaldson would take her grandson to the theme park after church services on Friday nights or weekend afternoons, Bowens said. But it was not out-of-character for Donaldson to treat D'Kota to a surprise outing, sometimes as a reward for good behavior, sometimes just to spoil him.

The Joker's Jukebox ride, introduced at the park this summer, is one of the smallest at the eastern New Orleans amusement park. Bowens said a witness told her that a park attendant started the ride while Donaldson was right next to it.

"I thought the attendant was supposed to go around and check if the children were properly secured," Bowens said. "I don't know why they would start the ride while she was still in there."

A bystander called 911, Bowens said, and an initial decision to take Donaldson across town to Charity Hospital was changed after paramedics determined the severity of her injuries. Bowens said the family was told about the accident after park workers found Donaldson's cellular phone and dialed the most recent number she had called, which turned out to be a family friend.

Initially, family members assumed Donaldson's injuries were not life-threatening, Bowens said.

Family shocked

"When I first heard she was at the hospital," she said, "I just thought she had some kind of injury they could fix. I mean, what could a kiddie ride do to a person? We were all shocked at how badly she was hurt. I still don't believe it. She went to Six Flags to have fun and she ends up dead."

The $1.15 million ride, located in the new D.C. Comics Super Heroes Adventures area, was part of a group of rides purchased from an amusement park in Japan that went out of business. Joker's Jukebox, in industry parlance considered a "round thrill ride," is manufactured by Schwartzkopf. It is the only ride of its kind among Six Flags Inc.'s 39 parks, though it is similar to an attraction at Six Flags Mexico.

Joker's Jukebox consists of 30 cars that spin independently on six arms that also spin up, down and around, according to a permit application filed with the city. The cars seat two people and spin to a height of about 17 feet.

After the accident, the ride was closed immediately and remained closed Thursday, although there were no signs or warnings referring to the mishap. Other than the ride closure, it appeared to be business as usual at the park, with moderate lines for the most popular rides.

Mechanics not to blame

The state fire marshal's office, the state agency charged with doing safety inspections of the park, said it was notified a "a couple hours" after the accident on Wednesday night. Bob Cate, mechanical safety manager for the state office, said Thursday that his office has concluded that the accident is not attributed to mechanical failure.

Cate said state law does not require the park employee operating the ride to submit to a drug or alcohol test. Although he has authority to order such tests, "when I saw the individual about five hours had passed since the accident and, sitting and talking to him, I didn't see any need for it," Cate said.

Wills was unable to comment on whether Six Flags had tested or would test the employee. The park would not release the employee's name.

The fire marshal's office inspects the park each year before it opens to make sure that the rides are mechanically sound. Its investigation is continuing, but it's not clear how exhaustive it will be in that its mission is mechanical safety. It is possible that another public safety organization could take the lead from here.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that of the 303 million visitors to amusement parks with fixed rides, as opposed to traveling carnivals, there were 6,704 injuries in 2001, the most recent year for which information is available. Those injuries could be as minor as a stubbed toe, and 134 required overnight hospitalization. For the past two decades, the industry has averaged two deaths a year.

Two people died at Six Flags parks on Memorial Day weekend last year, one in Atlanta and one in Denver. While the industry says even one fatality is too many, Six Flags officials say the deaths do not suggest a safety problem with the company because, as the world's largest regional theme park operator, Six Flags gets the lion's share of those 303 million annual visits.

At Six Flags New Orleans, ride operators get written and practical training and take tests before they are certified to operate a particular ride, Wills said.

Experts puzzled

Given this attention to safety and training, theme park industry experts were puzzled by the fatality in New Orleans.

"When the ride's in operation there's not supposed to be anyone in the area, including employees," said Hudson, president of the consulting firm AAPRA Associates. "When the ride is moving there is a clearance envelope and no one is supposed to intrude in that clearance envelope."

Checking to make sure the area is clear is "the operator's responsibility," said Speigel, a past president of International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.

He said the theme park industry considers Six Flags to be conscientious. "Like all operators, I think they're diligent in their safety approach," he said.

But Speigel fears that the accident could hamper Six Flags' efforts to repair community relations frayed by the park's former operator, Alfa SmartParks Inc., and turn around the park.

"It won't help attendance," Speigel said. Historically, after an accident, attendance drops at a park.

The park opened in May 2000 and recorded about 1 million visitors as New Orleanians streamed into their first local amusement park since Pontchartrain Beach closed in 1983. But after complaints about the lack of shade and frequent ride outages went unanswered, and the park twice promised patrons a new roller coaster and didn't deliver, fans deserted the park, forcing it to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in February 2002.

The Oklahoma-based Six Flags Inc. entered into a long-term lease with the city, which owns the property, when the park emerged from bankruptcy in August. Six Flags invested $25 million in the park during the winter and opened a host of new rides in its quest to win back local customers and make the park profitable.

Rosa Donaldson, 52, was inside the perimeter railing, strapping her grandson D'Kota into an attraction called The Joker's Jukebox

Uh-oh, stupid name alert! People who hand out permanent names like this atrocity probably aren't bright enough to get out of the way of anything.

You know - the sort of folks who, when they go down into their basement, can look up and see axles.

I've been to Six Flags in Landover, MD. One thing that struck me was the lackadaisical(sp?) attitude of the young attendants. They didn't seem to care.

I transfered to Atlanta from New Orleans last year. I didn't realize there was a Six Flags in new Orleans. Is this the JazzLand Theme park out in East NO off of I-10???

The $1.15 million ride, located in the new D.C. Comics Super Heroes Adventures area, was part of a group of rides purchased from an amusement park in Japan that went out of business.

It's just become considerably more expensive.

I was never injured at The Enchanted Forest in Ellicott City.