Horrifying cell phone footage captured a man climbing out of his seat on a roller coaster when he realized his safety bar unlatched.
The incident happened at Castles N’ Coasters amusement park in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday.
The man, who identified himself only as Ricky, was seen making his daring exit from the Desert Storm roller coaster right at the top of the ride, moments before its huge drop.
Ricky, who was at the park with his family, told TODAY the person operating the coaster didn’t check the lap bars before sending the riders up. As they were ascending, he heard his bar click, then felt it unlatch.
‘We were right about to the top when that happened, so I had a split decision to either decide to stay on the roller coaster and hope I stay in or get out,’ he said.
Ricky chose to vault himself from his seat onto the catwalk to his left moments before the coaster plunged down into the two 360 degree loops ahead.
He then climbed down stairs to get back to the ground.
‘I’m thankful it was me, because if it was one of the 10 or 11 year olds that were going through that, I don’t know that they would have jumped out of a moving roller coaster to save themselves,’ Ricky said.
Ricky is seen on video as the Desert Storm nears the edge of the drop
At the last second, he jumps out of his seat onto the catwalk and descends down stairs to safety
Pictured: A loop in the Desert Storm ride Ricky would have had to endure if he hadn’t escaped before the drop
‘Luckily, I’m here to tell my story, and the only thing that I can do is just try to spread awareness,’ Ricky added.
DailyMail.com approached Castles N’ Coasters for comment. The company is yet to address the incident.
This same ride at the same amusement park malfunctioned three years ago in May 2021.
The coaster stalled, leaving 22 passengers hanging 20 feet above the ground for two hours after it got stuck on its horizontal loop.
The Phoenix Fire Department had to be called and rescue crews were able to escort the riders to safety using a 30 foot ladder.
Terrifying images showed passengers being carried to safety down ladders resting against the tracks.
This photo provided shows responders rescuing people stuck on a roller coaster at Castles N’ Coasters on Saturday
The Phoenix Fire Department said the ride got stuck Saturday, with riders perched 20 feet off the ground
One state over in California, a similar incident happened a little over a week ago at the Knott’s Berry Farm amusement park.
The Sol Spin ride was brought to a screeching halt at around 2pm on a Monday, with thrill seekers being left to dangle until the were evacuated at 4:30pm.
A total of 22 people were stuck in mid-air. While some were left on their side, no one was left upside down.
The Sol Spin ride is made up of six swinging arms that go as high as six stories, and rotate 360 degrees.
After they were rescued, riders were seen stretching their backs and limbs after being stuck in uncomfortable positions for hours.
Some were hunched over and struggled to walk, others were placed in to wheelchairs after they exited the ride.
The Sol Spin ride at Knott’s Berry Farm was brought to a screeching halt at around 2pm on Monday, with thrill seekers being left to dangle
After they were rescued, riders were seen stretching their backs and limbs after being stuck in uncomfortable positions for hours
Three teens, two brothers and their cousin, were visiting the park for a birthday celebration were among those trapped on the ride.
‘It spun two times around and then when we hit the top, it stopped,’ Yandel Espinoza, 14, told KABC.
‘Then it shut down and we got stuck up there and we started panicking. We felt like we were gonna die.’
Espinoza’s 13-year-old cousin, Jaedyn Cannon, said: ‘We were in a weird position. We were like, sideways.’
Cannon’s mother told the local news station that Knott’s Berry Farm offered them free passes to make up for the incident but that they turned them down.
‘I feel like workers should’ve let us know like “hey, I would go check and see if you have any extra kids to make sure they are safe,” and they didn’t do none of that,’ Monique Cannon said.
