The 24-second TikTok video begins with an obviously proud dad ribbing his young daughter for riding alone in the Oaks Park roller coaster car in front of him.
“You’re going again? By yourself, now?” he said, seeming to feign concern. “You better hold on super tight.”
That jovial mood turned to panic in an instant as the “Zoom Coaster” began to move, climbing the tracks in front of it even though the safety bars on the ride hadn’t been lowered. Multiple riders, including the dad and daughter, broke into screams.
“Wait, wait, wait!” and “Stop! Stop it!” they yelled.
The video of the June 20 scare has racked up more than 800,000 views.
It came just six days after one of the park’s premier thrills — the 360-degree swinging pendulum, the “AtmosFEAR,” malfunctioned by suspending 28 riders upside down about 50 feet in the air for nearly half an hour. That mishap on June 14 made international news.
And the close call on the roller coaster also has helped keep safety top of mind for many Portland area families, who now carry a mix of emotions about the beloved 119-year-old theme park on the banks of the Willamette River in Southeast Portland.
An Oaks Park spokesperson said the roller coaster operator that day was fired, but declined to comment about an onslaught of scrutiny and criticism that has descended upon the park since mid-June.
The park has been operated by the Oaks Park Association as a nonprofit for nearly 40 years with a mission to “provide affordable family fun throughout the generations.”
When the roller coaster started without the safety bars down, the ride stopped seconds later, but the psychological damage had been done for the father-daughter and a considerable number of people who watched in horror.
“If they hadn’t stopped us in time, we would have flown out,” the dad said in a second video he posted in Spanish to TikTok. “...It was a fear I wouldn’t wish on anyone. …I hope they’ll take what happened today seriously because it could have caused losses of lives.”
He uses the handle @ElJayCortez on Tiktok and couldn’t be reached for comment.
Attorneys representing June 14 AtmosFEAR riders said comments from current and past Oaks Parks patrons have been pouring in.
“I think a lot of people are terribly conflicted because it’s an old Portland thing,” said Portland lawyer Jason Kafoury. “They don’t want it to shut down but they also want it to be safe.”
On Friday, the second lawsuit on behalf of AtmosFEAR riders was filed by another Portland lawyer, Michael Fuller.
Fuller said his firm has heard from others who claim they’ve recently had unnerving experiences. That includes riders who say they experienced quirks June 6 on the AtmosFEAR, more than a week before it locked itself upside down.
Fueling worries is a hunger for information about the cause of recent events.
In an email Friday, Oaks Park spokesperson Emily MacKay provided a brief explanation for the roller coaster safety lapse.
It occurred, she said, when one of the two staff members on duty “failed to follow our procedures.”
She said that “person’s employment was immediately terminated.”
Oaks Park management also has said it wasn’t able to identify any problems — including mechanical failures, maintenance issues or operator error — that would have caused the AtmosFEAR to freeze upside down. So management reopened the ride Tuesday after 11 days of closure.
That’s spine-chilling to Sherrie Threadgill, the mother of a 14-year-old daughter who had just graduated from George Middle School in North Portland when she was caught topsy-turvy on the ride during her eighth grade graduation celebration.
“I was just blown away to hear that ride was back open again so soon,” Threadgill said. “When I heard about that I was like ‘Noooo! Absolutely not.’”
Threadgill has filed suit against Oaks Park on behalf of her daughter.
Threadgill said her daughter’s legs went numb while hanging upside down and the pressure on her shoulders was enough to develop bruising. The teen had plenty of time to agonize about her possible death, the mother said.
Her daughter ended up vomiting twice while on the ride, then again when she got off, Threadgill said.
“She told me she never wants to get on another ride again,” Threadgill said.
The dad who posted on TikTok also said his experience with his daughter on the roller coaster has changed his outlook.
“Thank God nothing happened,” he said in one of his videos. “But this is a park I’ll never go to again, and neither will my daughter.”
— Aimee Green covers breaking news and the justice system. Reach her at 503-294-5119, agreen@oregonian.com or @o_aimee.
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