Magic Mountain Officials to Contest Safety Citations

Six Flags Magic Mountain executives have requested a meeting with Cal/OSHA officials to contest three state citations imposed in the aftermath of an accident that left a roller coaster attendant dead, a park spokeswoman said Friday.

The relatively minor citations come in the wake of the May 30 accident in which Cherie La Motte, 25, of Valencia fell while trying to cross the tracks of the Revolution attraction and was killed by an oncoming train.

Cal/OSHA investigators concluded that Magic Mountain officials did not provide adequate training and failed to discipline employees who disobeyed the park’s rule against crossing in front of trains.

The third violation found by investigators involves inadequate railing on the nearby Cyclone roller coaster.

Park officials deny any wrongdoing.

“If the citations aren’t resolved in our informal meeting, we are going to contest them because we think they are wrong,” said Bonnie Rabjohn, spokeswoman for the Valencia park. She said La Motte’s death resulted from “an individual action directly contrary to our fundamental policy.”

Since the accident, Magic Mountain has retrained and retested all of its roller coaster attendants as an extra precaution, Rabjohn said.

The park has also tightened its policy on crossing the tracks. Employees had been allowed to cross behind or through stationary trains. Now they may not cross behind the trains. But park executives insist that previous policies conformed to state requirements.

Times correspondent John Gonzales contributed to this story.