A Six Flags theme park has once again been the scene of violence, continuing a string of bizarre and tragic crimes at the iconic entertainment chain.
Credit: Inside the Magic
Six Flags is the world’s largest theme park chain and recently merged with former competitor Cedar Fair to form a vast new collection of family-friendly venues. The company currently operates 51 venues in the United States, Canada and Mexico, including 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and nine resorts.
Six Flags may not have the resources or symbolism of Disneyland Resort in Anaheim or Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, but it makes up for that with accessibility and affordability.
But the theme park chain has seen an increase in violent and crime incidents over the past year, leaving parents and visitors everywhere worried about safety.
In one incident last year at Six Flags in Georgia, dozens of young people got into a public brawl: “A group of kids, maybe 60 or so, started fighting right in front of us,” one visitor described. “Security kept things calm for about five or six minutes, then 45 minutes later, three more fights broke out right in front of us. It was the same group of kids.”
Credit: Inside the Magic
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Later that month, several Georgia teenagers were arrested and charged with fighting and armed robbery at a Wendy’s outside the theme park. A few weeks earlier, a family was assaulted at Six Flags New England, with the victim saying, “Some people started cutting in line, and I turned to face them.
One of them didn’t like the way I was looking at him and stared at my face. I didn’t back down so he called his brother who has a tattoo on his face. We stood in front of them and one of the women slapped my wife twice and I went to report them but I was taken by surprise and jumped on.
The chain formally launched a new policy last week at several of its parks, including Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Six Flags Over Georgia and Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, requiring minors to be accompanied by a chaperone under certain circumstances. Whether this is to protect teens or to protect others from teens is up for debate.
Credit: Six Flags
But the violence isn’t just limited to teenagers: At Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, a man was arrested for domestic violence, according to the Lake & McHenry County Scanner.
According to Gurnee Police, Henry L. West, of East Chicago, Indiana, arrived at Six Flags Great America with his girlfriend, whose name has been withheld, his two children and his girlfriend’s two children.
According to Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Vuckovich, West was upset that one of the woman’s children was using a tablet in a car in the theme park parking lot. West reportedly asked the woman to tell the child to turn off the tablet, but she said the child did not need to do so.
At that point, according to Vuckovich, “West grabbed the woman’s chin and the victim pushed West’s hand away. West then punched the woman in the face, causing her head to hit the window.”
Henry West then drove off with the four children in his car, Gurnee Police Department spokesman Sean Gaylor said. Officers made contact with West, but he refused to return the woman’s two children, so he drove the children to his mother’s residence in East Chicago, Indiana.
Credit: Six Flags
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The Illinois State Police Emergency Radio Network (ISPERN) confirmed the safety of the children. The woman sustained minor injuries and was treated by emergency personnel at the scene. Henry West later turned himself in to police and was charged with two counts of domestic violence, a Class A misdemeanor.
The Lake County Prosecutor’s Office filed a petition seeking detention, calling West a “real and imminent threat to the victim,” while Vuckovich said West has prior convictions for felonious assault, robbery, assault and trespass.
However, Lake County Judge Theodore Potkonyak, taking into consideration the victim’s wishes not to detain West and the fact that West had appeared in court pursuant to the warrant, denied the petition and allowed West to be released from custody on pretrial conditions.
Regardless of what happened at Six Flags Great America, it’s clear that violence at the chain continues. Chaperone policies alone are clearly not enough.
Have you ever experienced violence at Six Flags or felt unsafe at a Six Flags park?
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