Just heard about this figured i would post. This is crazy Iraq war veteran dies on The Superman Ride of Steal. Sgt. James Thomas Hackemer lost both of his legs by a roadside bomb in Iraq and dies on a roller coaster. I guess he was “ejected” from his seat. So so sad to hear RIP
http://www.wgrz.com/news/article/127015/37/Deadly-Accident-on-Ride-of-Steel-Coaster-at-Darien-Lake
lawsuit to follow, why the fuck would you let some one ride the man of steel with no legs and brain damage???
this… the only restraints on the ride are leg restraints.
he had “minor” brain injuries btw. I made him a bit slow, but he still was very capable. The fact that they let him ride with no legs is absolutely retarded. As soon as i realized it was just a lap bar and not an over the shoulder harness… i couldn’t believe nobody stopped it.
I watched his progress over the past few years since the accident when he lost his legs and he endured SO MUCH. Not only the rehabilitation and recovery, but his personal life including his selfish wife leaving him because she couldn’t be with a man with no legs. I’m just glad i got to tell him how awesome he was and that he’s a hero and that i was thankful for his military service. He was a great man. And this is just tragic from all angles.
---------- Post added at 06:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:34 AM ----------
it’s like trying to strap a matress to the roof of your car…but only putting one strap across it the back end of the car and leaving the leading edge unbraced.
Gotta wonder how much the, “how do we tell a war hero who gave 2 legs and a hip to this country he can’t ride a rollercoaster” feeling played into this. I still can’t believe ride operators would allow this.
This is sad 
I guess he was wearing prosthetic(sp?) legs.
Lafengas, where did you find the comment about his wife leaving him? If that is true, what a b*tch
^ didn’t find it. Saw it. I knew James and his family since highschool. She left him during his rehab and they have 2 kids together. He was devastated for a while and it looks like as of recent they made ammends for the sake of the kids. They never got back together.
Holy crap
almostBrett mentioned something to me about this last night, so we tried to look it up and the only thing I could find about it was a report that said “6 Flags in New England” which usually doesn’t mean upstate NY… sucks that it DID happen here :tdown:
I agree.
No way i could tell a dude like this that he couldnt ride a roller coaster
My dad helped his mother get a loan while he was in the hospital after the I.E.D. hit him. She was a nice lady as well.
Sorry for the loss, I worked at dl has a in the operations department. I was a ride engineer, I worked on training everyone. I feel for your loss Josh.
I didnt work at dl this year due to my travels and other commitments. So everything about to say is on my behave not dl.
Dl policy is to let anyone, anyone ride who is above the specified ride hieght and can fit in the seat. It is NOT the job of the operators to ask “are u sure?”. Everyone, everyone who wants to ride the ride will… Now will something change? Idk.
If I was with him, meaning if I saw him get on. I would have had him suck in when the lap bar was going down and used alot of force for the seat belt. And I would have told anyone riding next to him ensure he doesn’t put his arms in the air.
Now, the ride of steel is a great coaster, and the reason why he wanted to ride was because of the trill.
RIP
Lots of Vets dying lately, really terrible news.
RIP. sad.
Maybe…and just my guess that he had enough with his life and decided to use the roller coaster as a tool for him to let go? But very sad indeed about his wife leaving after what he did for the country. RIP!
RIP
All of this sad news lately. RIP
I talked to someone who was there and works for the park and that’s what they think. The reason is because there was already a guy who was injured / killed (can remember which) on a superman coaster so they redesigned and increased the strength of the restraints to keep people in no matter what. The only way you could fall out is if you held back the restraints for some reason and did allow them to lock.
That resulted in a ~$2m settlement because the parks don’t tend to fight these things… at least his kids will get something, unless his x-wife blows it all before they’re 18 
This is all 2nd hand though.
If he was trying to kill himself I doubt he’d do it on the two weeks a month he has custody of his kids. There’s a real good article in the Buffalo News where they talked with his family living here. Talked about how it was his favorite ride, something he was looking forward to etc.
I cant believe I have to be the asshole to post that he supermaned the superman.
Super sad. There is just something humorous about a dude with no legs flying off a ride called the superman.
edit: too soon?