Six Flags' X2 roller coaster left riders with brain injuries, lawsuits allege

Artemis Greer and Joshua Wilkinson have spent the last two months by their daughter Naomi Greer-Wilkinson's side, praying that she will wake up from a catastrophic brain injury.   

"She is in a respiratory hospital trying to get off a ventilator," Greer said. "When we got there, they told us to prepare for end of life."

Greer and Wilkinson allege that she suffered the brain injury after riding the X2 roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain this past July. 

They're not alone. 

Pamela Guillen said she underwent emergency brain surgery after riding the same roller coaster six days before Greer-Wilkinson. 

"I was still in a coma when they reopened the ride, and it happened to her," she said. 

Guillen said she was never warned about past injuries or deaths such as 22-year-old Christopher Hawley in 2022, whose family also sued Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Now, the amusement park is facing a wave of new lawsuits alleging that the X2 roller coaster left more than a hundred riders with brain injuries. 

"Naomi had no idea when she was going to Magic Mountain with her siblings and her friends that she was signing up for something that could potentially rip the veins in her skull," attorney Christopher Bulone said. 

Greer and Wilkinson are represented by Dordick Law Corporation, which has filed the first of what they said will be more than 100 lawsuits alleging catastrophic brain damage connected to the X2 coaster. 

"None of the folks from the community that went to Magic Mountain had any preexisting conditions," attorney Gary Dordick said.

He said the cases raise questions about the ride's design, alleging that Six Flags and the ride's manufacturer, S&S Worldwide, used outdated testing and maintenance. 

"Now that we've filed a lawsuit, we'll have subpoena power," Dordick said 

The new complaints alleged that Six Flags had "been previously sued more than a dozen times in actions arising from catastrophic brain injuries allegedly suffered by passengers riding X2."

"I think they need to be held accountable and answer for not just the way my life changed but people that have died," Guillen said. 

Six Flags said it does not comment on pending litigation. CBS LA reached out to S&S Worldwide for comment. 

Dordick Law expects to file the additional lawsuit in the coming weeks. 

X2 has remained closed since mid-July as the state investigates the two most recent incidents.