Jim Walsh | The Courier-Post

CAMDEN – A popular roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure exposes some patrons to the risk of “whiplash type injuries,” says a lawsuit for a physician who claims his ride led to spinal surgery.

Dr. Christopher Fabricant of Red Bank, Monmouth County, contends he suffered “severe and permanent damage to his neck and spine” during a painful ride on Kingda Ka, which the park describes as the “fastest roller coaster in North America.”

The lawsuit in Camden federal court contends park employees did not warn the 6-foot-2 doctor that a person of his body size “was not a candidate for safely riding (Kingda Ka).”

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It claims a rider on Kingda Ka risks whiplash from the coaster’s “extreme speed and torqueing forces” if most or all of the person’s head extends above the rear of the seat.

And the suit alleges the seat’s safety harness can cause “crushing injuries” for taller patrons.

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The lawsuit argues those adverse conditions are “sufficient to cause severe damage to the vertebrae.”

Great Adventure does not comment on legal matters, said Kristin Fitzgerald, a park spokeswoman.

“However, the safety and well-being of our guests is always our top priority,” she said.

The park’s website describes Kingda Ka as an “upside down U-shaped track (that) bolts up 45 stories in the sky.”

It notes the ride accelerates from 0 to 128 mph “in a jaw-dropping 3.5 seconds” as it climbs to its peak, then plummets “right back down in a 270-degree spiral that is not recommended for wimps.”

Tom Spader/Staff photographer (~ nfs)

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages for Fabricant and his wife, Malika, says the doctor was injured while accompanying his son on the coaster on April 23, 2017.

It contends a park employee did not properly adjust Fabricant’s harness, and that a locking system prevented the harness from loosening, “but it did not prevent tightening.”

As a result, the lawsuit says, the harness “became locked tighter and tighter” during Fabricant’s ride, causing “excruciating” pain in his shoulders.

“Although the ride lasted less than a minute, the pain … was so unbearable that seconds seemed endless as the car slowly returned to the station,” it claims.

Fabricant was able to drive home and to work the next day. But the suit contends he had sustained “an acute rupture of at least two intervertebral discs,” and that the injury led “to a cascade of catastrophic medical events” over the next three weeks.

After seeing multiple doctors and visiting an emergency room, Fabricant underwent back surgery on May 13. He "anticipates the need for at least one additional surgery and additional medical treatment … throughout the remainder of his life,” the suit says.

The suit contends a park guide in Fabricant’s possession at the time of the ride shows a maximum height for Kingda Ka riders of 77 inches, “nearly three inches greater than his own height.”

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"In retrospect it is clear that he was misled by these printed guidelines," the suit adds.

It also faults Six Flags’ presentation of legally required signs that notify patrons they must report any injury to the park “within 90 days … as a precondition to the right to institute legal action.”

Signs on display during Fabricant’s visit “were in fact rendered inconspicuous” due to “small font size” and other features, the suit says. As a result, it asserts the park “failed to satisfy the requirements for triggering the applicable precondition notice requirement.”

The suit, which alleges negligence by Great Adventure, makes additional claims against firms that made, designed and sold seats and harnesses for the Kingda Ka ride.

Initially filed last month in Superior Court, Ocean County, it was moved to the Camden court last week at Great Adventure’s request.