Iraq vet killed when tossed by roller coaster

DARIEN, N.Y. — An investigation is under way into a roller coaster accident in upstate New York that killed an Army veteran who lost both his legs to a roadside bomb in Iraq.

Teams of inspectors on Saturday were examining the 200-foot tall Ride of Steel roller coaster at the Darien Lake Theme Park Resort, about 30 miles east of Buffalo, between Buffalo and Rochester, the Genesee County sheriff's office said.

James Hackemer, of Gowanda, died Friday evening when he was ejected from the ride.

The 29-year-old was missing both legs and part of a hip.

The amusement park stayed open after the accident. Patrons were arriving again on Saturday morning. But the roller coaster and surrounding area were closed.

The park confirmed a guest "came out of the Ride of Steel roller coaster" and said it was "saddened to report that the guest has passed."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the friends and the family of the guest," park spokeswoman Cassandra Okon said.

The park's website describes the Ride of Steel as one of the tallest coasters east of the Mississippi River, climbing 208 feet and reaching speeds in excess of 70 mph.

The death was at least the second in the last couple of months at Northeast amusement parks. In early June, an 11-year-old girl on a class trip to Morey's Mariner's Landing Pier in Wildwood, N.J., fell about 150 feet from near the top of a Ferris wheel and was killed. A state report found the ride's restraints to be working properly, and investigators haven't been able to determine how the girl, who was riding alone, got out of the Giant Wheel gondola.

Hackemer, of Gowanda, lost his right leg below his knee and his left leg at his hip because of a roadside bomb while he was deployed in 2008, authorities said. He had been living with his parents.

"It's going to help a little bit that he was happy," his mother, Nancy Hackemer, told The Buffalo News. "We shouldn't have had him for these last three years and four months."

She said the family had recently returned from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, in Washington, D.C., where her son got "a new set of legs."

"He was assisted onto the ride," she said. "He was doing what he wanted to do."