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A roller coaster attendant at Six Flags Magic Mountain fell while trying to cross the tracks Thursday and was killed by a train of cars loaded with merrymakers, park executives said.
Cherie La Motte, 25, of Valencia, a part-time employee for about two years, died shortly after being struck by the cars of the Revolution roller coaster about 3 p.m., park spokesman Palmer Moody said.
No one else was injured in the tragedy that struck just as the summer amusement park season got underway.
La Motte stepped onto the tracks in front of the loading area where she worked about the same time that a five-car train--which had been standing still in a staging area a few feet away with returning passengers--started up again to complete the ride, park representatives said. She was thrown from the tracks into a cramped pit below, where paramedics found her dead of massive injuries, said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Al Schriver.
A park representative estimated that the train, starting from a dead stop, was traveling about 4 mph at the time of impact.
Deputy Britta Tubbs, a sheriff's spokeswoman, said that investigating deputies believe that La Motte tried to cross the tracks from the side where passengers disembark to the side where incoming passengers board the newly vacated cars. As she did so, Tubbs said, La Motte slipped into the 4-foot-deep pit and was struck by the train...