Family unsure why man killed by roller coaster climbed fence

The park in Sandusky said in an email to media Friday that it has “respectfully postponed” the planned Tuesday announcement, expected to be the addition of a new roller coaster opening in 2016.

James Young, 45, was killed Thursday at Cedar Point amusement park when a auto from its Raptor coaster – or one of the passengers – struck him after he entered a restricted area to gather his fallen wallet and cellphone. He was struck by the 57 miles per hour ride or someone on it. Nobody else was hurt.

But Thursday, Young’s annual visit to Cedar Point turned tragic.

‘He wasn’t someone who would normally disobey the law. He went there every summer with his friends.

Young was about to begin his “dream job” as a counselor at Sebring High School after working the previous year as an intervention specialist, helping fifth graders who needed additional work on math and English at Louisville Elementary School in Stark County.

Brenda Young said her son, who lived around the block from her, was looking forward to his first year as a guidance counsellor.

The park expressed condolences to Young’s family, Edwards said.

Young, a school teacher in the Louisville school district, had been riding the Raptor rollercoaster when his wallet and phone dropped out of his pocket and fell below the track. “You have to find what makes every student tick and that’s what he was good at”, said Shaffer. Not long after the friends separated, she said, Young’s companions noticed the paramedics’ arrival, and learned their friend had been killed. “He probably felt he could be over in a minute and be back”.

Mohr said services for Young have not been set, pending an autopsy. He saw where they fell and, “in a thoughtless moment”, Brenda Young said, tried to retrieve them after he got off.

“I think what made James special is the fact he found their niche, and anytime you’re a teacher that’s the key to success for the kids”, she said.