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A rocketing roller coaster sent a legless Army combat hero flying to his death in a tragic accident at a Buffalo-area amusement park.
Double amputee Sgt. James Thomas Hackemer, 29, who lost both legs fighting in Iraq, bounced from the Ride of Steel coaster at Darien Lake Theme Park and Resort on Friday as his nephew watched in horror.
“By the time I’d realized that he was pretty far out of the seat, he was too far for me to grab, and at that speed, even if I were able to catch his shirt, it wouldn’t have done much,” said Ashton Luffred, 19.
It was the only ride the two boarded during a weekend family getaway at the park, 1½ hours from Hackemer’s home in Gowanda.
Hackemer had asked the park’s staff which rides would be safe for him, Luffred recalled.
“They’re all fine,” a guest-services worker said.
So he rolled his wheelchair to the front of the line of the roller coaster, which tops out at 208 feet. The ride operator let Luffred lift his uncle from the wheelchair into a seat.
Hackemer was looking forward to some thrills.
“I’m going to put my hands up when we go down!” he excitedly told his nephew.
But once it was rolling, Luffred said, he realized the belt and lap bar in the coaster might not hold his uncle, who had no lap.
The coaster quickly climbs to an incredible height, sending cars on a 70-mph plunge. It then torpedoes through two circular loops and crests another hill — where, his nephew said, Hackemer was ejected.
“The last time I saw him was when he was flying out,” he said. “He didn’t have anything holding him down.”
A big crowd saw what happened, Luffred said. Workers cordoned off the area, as word spread through the park that a legless man had fallen from the ride.
One of Hackemer’s sisters was escorting his daughters, Kaelynn Rose, 4, and Addison Grace, 3, at the park’s kiddie rides and overheard someone say, “Some guy fell off, and he didn’t have any legs.”
The horrified woman “just started screaming,” said Paula Norley, another sister.
Hackemer enlisted straight out of high school. He lost his legs in a 2008 roadside bomb attack in Iraq. Doctors doubted he’d survive, but one day, he opened his eyes.
“He was so happy to be alive,” said Norley.
Darien Lake Theme Park’s Web site says Ride of Steel passengers must be 54 inches or taller.
Without his legs, Hackemer was about three feet tall, his nephew said.
Investigators for the local sheriff’s department and the state Department of Labor pored over the ride yesterday. Officials declined comment on the accident.
Days after the massive coaster debuted in 1999, a 37-
year-old man was ejected but only suffered minor injuries. The park has promoted the ride as “the tallest coasters east of the Mississippi.”
Darien Lake offered condolences to Heckemer’s family.
Norley, meanwhile, believes her brother is in a better place now.
“I just think he’s running right now,” she said.