AUGUST 13, 2015
SANDUSKY, OHIO
A Cedar Point guest died after he was struck by the Raptor roller coaster around 5 p.m. Thursday.
Police said the man, identified as 45-year-old James A. Young, of East Canton, Ohio, jumped the fence to enter a restricted area near the roller coaster to look for a lost cell phone that he dropped during the 57 mph ride. His friends told police Young dropped the phone while on the ride earlier.
No one else was injured. Cedar Point police and the Sandusky Police Department are investigating.
Megan Moore was suspended in the air for ten minutes on the ride, while she and other riders wondered what was going on. "I was in shock because I didn't know what to do. It was terrifying."
Moore witnessed crews trying their best to save the man by performing what appeared to Moore to be CPR. "We saw a bunch of cops... paramedics running toward... the situation." Moore says emergency crews proceeded to barricade a section near the ride.
The amusement park sits along Lake Erie in Sandusky and has billed itself as the best in the world.
The park confirms the death in a statement saying "a guest entered a restricted, fenced area of Raptor and was struck by the ride." It says its "thoughts and prayers go out to the family."