Beating Allegations Surface at SFDK

[Mikey]

Visitors to a Bay Area amusement park are coming forward claiming they were beaten. And they say security guards were the ones throwing the punches.

They say they were attacked: "I was bleeding from my nose, and my mouth," said Corey Carlson. Punched: "They began to throw uppercuts at me," said Demarea Barnes. Arrested: "He told me don't move and they handcuffed me," said Philip Lobsinger.

All at a place they went to for fun: Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo. Corey Carlson took his younger brother there this past July 4th. "The idea was just to ride the rides, see the fireworks and head back to San Francisco," said Carlson.

A great birthday for his brother until a security guard approached. "He asked me if I had been smoking any [CENSORED WORD]. I said no I had not," Carlson said.

Finding nothing, they kicked him out anyway. He had to wait in his car. "I felt like there was nothing I could do. I didn't want to cause a scene. Yet when he went back to meet back up with his family outside he gate, he said he saw guards picking on some younger kids. "I made a comment to my cousin, these punk---- security guards can't treat kids like this."

Something one of the guards overheard. "He said it's okay, you can talk all the sh-- you want because you're a little b----. So Carlson said he turned to leave but said at that moment he was pushed from behind.

His 13-year-old brother Shaneen said, then: "Like the four of them grabbed his throat and just threw him against the fence."

And Carlson said even after they handcuffed him, one guard kept punching him. "He held my head down with his left hand and was beating on the right side of my face. And I could feel like it popping, and I could feel like feet hitting me in the back of the head," he said. The result: broken bones in his face, a concussion and permanent damage to one eye.

But he's not alone. Demarea Barnes also visited on July 4th with a friend, his 14-year-old brother and a cousin. He said when he saw four security guards hitting his cousin, he tried to pull him out of the crowd. "One of the security guards came up from behind me, picked me up and slammed me on my face," Barnes said.

Barnes said he was held down, handcuffed then "beaten with walkie-talkies and punched on the side of my face and my face was being slammed against concrete."

And there is Phil and Kirsten Lobsinger who took their four kids to the park in August when a security guard told Phil he was being kicked out for swearing. "I said, 'You're going to do this to me, really?' I said this is my daughter's birthday," Phil said.

Kirsten Lobsinger said, "I was very upset, my daughter you know was crying."

When Kirsten said he accidentally bumped into the guard while calling his wife on her cell phone. "Ten security guards that came around me and the one I bumped into, he goes, 'Why'd you have to do that? Now you're under arrest.'" They then charged him with battery. "I thought that was ridiculous," she said.

Despite what they say were outrageous actions by the guards, all of those park visitors wound up being the ones arrested, all of them accused of assaulting or battering a security guard.

And they're not the only ones: CBS 5 Investigates found a string of arrests, nearly a dozen going back more than two years, that experts now say raise serious questions about how security guards treat customers at Six Flags.

Norman Bates, a nationally-recognized security consultant and former professor of criminal justice who's helped write private security standards. "I have just have never seen anything quite like this," Bates said.

Especially, he said, the number of alleged assaults by guests, on guards. "Makes me really suspicious from the very beginning," Bates said. "What's going on here, why isn't security de-escalating these problems."

But Six Flags' public relations director Nancy Chan said there's an explanation: The guests did something wrong. Chan said, "In the cases you gave me several of them either assaulted one of our security, kicked, battery ?????????"

But here too, CBS 5 Investigates found something else: The majority of the cases already resolved, six out of nine, were dismissed, or never even prosecuted. "To have, six out of nine of these assaults, the charges are dropped, it tells me that the whole thing is just trumped up, and it's not real!" said Bates.

But Chan maintained, "If someone decides to be argumentative, confrontational combative, then our security personnel will act accordingly."

Bates' response: "The issue here is did security deal with it properly." And of the cases he reviewed he said, "I'm not seeing that here."

CBS 5 Investigates showed Bates videotape of an incident in 2004, where Six Flags guards tried to stop an animal activist from heading into the park. As the man tries to walk past, the guards grab him, first his shirt, then a few minutes later, his entire body.

"You see the two officers on either side of the individual holding his arms out. You know, that's not the way it's done. It tells me they're not training properly," said Bates.

Not so said Nancy Chan. "Our security personnel are trained," she said.

But Bates said, "Punching, kicking people in the head, more punching in the face, pulling the hair, stomping on a person's hand, I mean, none of that is appropriate security procedure anyplace in this country!"

In fact, Bates said if Carlson's description of how he was beaten after being handcuffed is true: "That would be truly criminal. Truly."

CBS 5 Investigates asked Chan whether these incidents make her perhaps wonder, whether there's more to the story than what she has heard. "Well certainly it does, bring up a lot of, questions. So, certainly, would like to look further into that. They're here to protect, and to ensure the safety of the guests," she said.

And if guests wind up hurt then how safe are they anyway, CBS 5 asked her. "That's a good question," she said.

But Norman Bates said that question can't be left unanswered. "You need to stop the arrests today. It needs to stop, immediately."

Six Flags now said as a result of CBS 5's investigation, they are now doing their own internal investigation with officials from another of their amusement parks, looking at these incidents.

[jayman]

i hear a word in my head .. my brain says opportunism .. i sense alot of eenunshiashun being left out in the "victim's " description of what happened,, jes sayin' .. ..

^I agree.

[gouldy]

I bet they fell down the stairs.

Originally posted by jayman

i hear a word in my head .. my brain says opportunism .. i sense alot of eenunshiashun being left out in the "victim's " description of what happened,, jes sayin' .. ..

wow theres alot of big words in there jay

yeah sounds very suspicious to me, if they said one of the guard hit him once then youa abit more beliveable rather than a full on gang bustup

thats kind of scary. at our six flags, the guards arent like that at all. theyre actually pretty nice. last year they held a contest to find a sasquatch (our new ride was Sasquatch) and they totally were telling a bunch of kids where to look near!

[Coasterkidmwm]

I bet the kids hit first. I don't buy this at all. You have to be acted pretty damned stupid to attract the attention of park security.

Originally posted by Coasterkidmwm

I bet the kids hit first. I don't buy this at all. You have to be acted pretty damned stupid to attract the attention of park security.

Not if these guards act like the report says.

They probly act like the wild animals the report claims if they stop animal activists from entering the park. Their supposed to protect guests, not bully them.

^You're buying every bit of that story, Just like people bought the MJ story.

Originally posted by coasterpimp

^You're buying every bit of that story, Just like people bought the MJ story.

hahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Ahem.

Its not the victims allegations, its the fact that the news station caught the guards stopping the animal activist. Unless he had animals with him that would cause a disturbance/put other guests in danger, which the report didnt state, theirs no reason to hold him back at all. Also, not many theme parks have that many assault charges filed on them in 2 years(give or take).

Besides, how did Michael Jackson REALLY die?

[Dirk_Ermen]

Originally posted by Panther16

Besides, how did Michael Jackson REALLY die?

Coasterpimp stabbed him to death...

Originally posted by Panther16

Besides, how did Michael Jackson REALLY die?

Some form of homicide, I don't remember exactly what if it was stated.

[jayman]

Also, not many theme parks have that many assault charges filed on them in 2 years(give or take).

it's right near san franciso, cop hatersville..
i'm still thinking someones tryin' to git PAID!

Well looking at both sides it can be viewed either way. On one side, multipul people complained about the same thing on the same day. However, if they were really attacked dont you think there would have been a scene, that 911 would have been called and a report filed RIGHT AWAY, withen hours. Plus, depending on the severity of the injuries, you would go get medical help right away. Its a tough call because the security gaurds seem like they just have blind rage but knowing the level of BS everyone has and how sue happy everyone is im not sure id believe them 100 percent.

[Mikey]

If you call 911 inside a Six Flags park, 911 will call the designated emergency contact at the park first before sending any officers out.

[coolbeans326]

any new infor on this>?