News Guest dies, found unresponsive after riding Stardust Racers

[flynnibus]

Do we know if he was deceased at the scene, we know he was unconscious when he arrived back at the station but I can’t remember if they’ve released any information about whether he was alive at that point and at what point he was pronounced deceased.

What does it even matter? The damage was done and there is nothing to suggest lack of care was part of the outcome.

 

[flynnibus]

Being totally hypothetical - and I know some people don't appreciate the theorising - but I wonder if his legs were flexible/weak enough to allow them to 'flop' over the front of the train and then with the forces around the ride break them?

If there was that kind of trauma, I would expect some mention of it in the ME statements so far.

I think it's more that without muscle to counter it.. or pain response to fight it.. your lower back is going to be pretty flexible.

 

[VicariousCorpse]

If he needed CPR in the station, his survival rates were already really low. Only 10% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests survive to hospital discharge.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Toss in this happening once, and maybe it knocks him out, and it happens again, etc.. or maybe just the single blow could be enough. Either way, a metal bar to the face or forehead is going to be significant, even if it didn't lead to more.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t a result of multiple rides. That something was happening in the previous rides on this coaster or the other rides during the day and it all finally reached a tipping point.

 

[flynnibus]

I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t a result of multiple rides. That something was happening in the previous rides on this coaster or the other rides during the day and it all finally reached a tipping point.

I know somewhere it was said he rode 6 times (inferring this coaster)... but that wasn't mentioned by the family at all. They made it sound like he only had one ride on this coaster, but had rode other things that day. It wasn't explicit, but that was what I took from their language.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Looked at the Universal Reddit threads today and was surprised to see the consensus there is “The ride has been declared safe by everyone who inspected it so this man died due to a preexisting condition.” Maybe the average Redditor is like 15, but this makes me raise an eyebrow at the state of reading comprehension in this country.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Looked at the Universal Reddit threads today and was surprised to see the consensus there is “The ride has been declared safe by everyone who inspected it so this man died due to a preexisting condition.”

When I first saw the headline I assumed that’s what it was - this is much more complex if you read into the details but many of us are getting used to reading the headline and judging based on that alone.

 

[DisneyHead123]

When I first saw the headline I assumed that’s what it was - this is much more complex if you read into the details but many of us are getting used to reading the headline and judging based on that alone.

I guess so… maybe I’m used to this place where people are looking up permits, drone footage, etc. It’s not an extremely deep dive to read that an article talks about working as designed vs. being declared safe though. Hope the family is able to insulate themselves from the online comments.

 

[My95cobras]

I don't think they would be putting anything out in that press conference that would be a wholly inaccurate statement... Especially since they seem to have his girlfriend involved, who can tell what happened (and if that statement is correct).

Ahhh yes…. Attorneys never lie.

 

[mkt]

Do we know if he was deceased at the scene, we know he was unconscious when he arrived back at the station but I can’t remember if they’ve released any information about whether he was alive at that point and at what point he was pronounced deceased. There’s been so much speculation I’m struggling to remember what’s been confirmed and what’s speculation anymore.

As a rule of thumb, people will not be pronounced dead at the parks

 

[Master Yoda]

As a rule of thumb, people will not be pronounced dead at the parks

This is not unique to theme parks.

 

[Rich Brownn]

We've already talked about this. Big Thunder was open for decades before the tragic fatality. From a brand perspective--and only from a brand perspective--guests already had a set of memories associated with it. Stardust has a branding problem now. It's been officially open since late May (plus some time in preview). What associations do most people have with it? Not much. I'm not sure how this story played out overseas. But in the US, the primary reference point that most people (i.e. potential customers) now have is that this is the coaster where a rider died from multiple blunt force impacts (i.e. getting hit over and over). The audience that Universal is now trying to court (families on vacation, particularly parents who can be protective) is going to remember this in a way that young adults (such as at Six Flags) might move past it in a few months.

Also--since someone else who didn't read the full thread is likely to bring this up--both riders on Mission Space died from pre-existing conditions. That was the cause of death. One was a child whose parents didn't know about his heart condition--a tragedy. But both of those are very different than dying from repeated blunt force impacts while on a ride. These are two very different categories.

Stardust operated properly. BTMR did not. Stardust was maintained. BTMRR was not.We do not know the cause of Stardust (most likely NOT from the coaster itself) but BTMRR was literally the fault of negligence from Disney. I don't care how much "branding" issue you think. 96%of people will never have heard of this story as it was a 1-day wonder in national news. The BTMRR however, was splashed about especially when it was revealed to be entirely the fault of Disney.

 

[Rich Brownn]

I have given some more thought to this.

What possibly happened -

Kevin was in front row of a car, meaning there was no seat back in front him.Kevin passes out early in the ride and because of no shoulder restraints, his head, upper body smashed against the front of the car repeatedly.

The case is settled out of court for an insane amount of money ( but nothing much more than Disney loses on a couple of movies) 600M or so.

Perhaps Stardust does not get torn down but maybe shoulder restraints are added.

Even unconscious you should not be able to bend forward enough to hit your head. Now we have no idea what his exact spinal issue was, but if it allowed him to bend in an unnatural way, then yeah maybe. OTSR are inherently likely to cause more injuries than a modern style lap bar which is why so few new coasters use them

 

[Disstevefan1]

Even unconscious you should not be able to bend forward enough to hit your head. Now we have no idea what his exact spinal issue was, but if it allowed him to bend in an unnatural way, then yeah maybe. OTSR are inherently likely to cause more injuries than a modern style lap bar which is why so few new coasters use them

I don't know how normal unconscious person would react to be honest.

My hope would be folks don't die because they passed out on a ride!

You do bring up a question, we do not what muscles worked in Kevin's body, we have no idea if his core was weak due do his pre existing condition.

Will there be an autopsy? Does Kevin's family want an autopsy performed?

Kevin got all the blunt force injuries somehow.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

What does it even matter? The damage was done and there is nothing to suggest lack of care was part of the outcome.

We were questioning whether it was ever confirmed that it was head trauma or whether it could have been something like leg trauma, which lead to questions over whether leg trauma could cause death so quickly, which lead to questions about when he actually died… no one ever questioned the care he reserved, no idea where you got that from.