Family injured in attack at Six Flags Great America; 9 suspects arrested

[Oldiesmann]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/crime/ct-lns-six-flags-assault-st-0927-20170926-story.html

A family of three was hospitalized Saturday after being attacked by an adult and eight teens at Six Flags Great America after members of the larger group apparently cut in line and were using foul language when the family exchanged words with them, according to Gurnee police.

[VekomaRulz]

As much as I hate seeing people cut in line, I never say anything because of the chance of something like this happening. I'd rather wait an extra minute or two in line.

[Shaggy]

Waaaay back when I worked at KI, we would monitor this constantly, then when the line jumpers reached the front of the line, security was waiting to escort them away.  However we also encouraged the guests not to police it - for fear of this type of reaction.

[KIBeast]

That makes the most sense Shaggy. Let the park employees monitor the situation and security deal with the unruly guests. 

[FoF96"]

When I worked at the Kingdom, we were very low tech about this.  There was no real way to monitor the coaster lines outside of your immediate view.  We relied on guest reports of line jumping and in the event it was reported, we had to get confirmation from someone nearby outside of the original reporting party.  Then we called security and before the person even knew what was going on, they were walked out of the line (and sometimes the park, depending on their interaction with security).

[Shaggy]

Years ago, while I was in line with some *enthusiasts* for Double Loop at Geauga Lake, a little boy walked past us in line.  The male enthusiast I was with - a hot head - grabbed the boys shoulder and said something to the effect of "where do you think you're going?"  The next thing I knew, the boys Father, who was just a few feet in front of us, walked up to the *enthusiast* with fist drawn and said "Get your hand off my kid" or something to the sort.  It turned into a heated exchange of words about line jumping, rule breaking etc.

Although I didn't say anything to the *enthusiast* (as to not worsen the situation) I didn't blame that Father one bit.  It was terribly embarrassing and shocking.  I thought the *enthusiast* was going to get socked in the kisser, and by default, I'd have to deal with the fallout - or perhaps get socked just by association.   It basically ruined the day - all because someone tried to police a situation.

Don't ever try to police a situation, or physically deal with a rule breaker - you may end up with something broken yourself (or worse) and it's simply not worth it.

[TheRickster]

5 hours ago, Shaggy said:

Years ago, while I was in line with some *enthusiasts* for Double Loop at Geauga Lake, a little boy walked past us in line.  The male enthusiast I was with - a hot head - grabbed the boys shoulder and said something to the effect of "where do you think you're going?"  The next thing I knew, the boys Father, who was just a few feet in front of us, walked up to the *enthusiast* with fist drawn and said "Get your hand off my kid" or something to the sort.  It turned into a heated exchange of words about line jumping, rule breaking etc.

Although I didn't say anything to the *enthusiast* (as to not worsen the situation) I didn't blame that Father one bit.  It was terribly embarrassing and shocking.  I thought the *enthusiast* was going to get socked in the kisser, and by default, I'd have to deal with the fallout - or perhaps get socked just by association.   It basically ruined the day - all because someone tried to police a situation.

Don't ever try to police a situation, or physically deal with a rule breaker - you may end up with something broken yourself (or worse) and it's simply not worth it.

Yeah, and even if it's a kid we are all adults. Someone coming back to join their party after running to the bathroom or meeting up isn't going to be the end of the world. Sure it's rude on their behalf. But unless it's just like blatantly trying to get away with something with a group of people I just let it go by. My day is to important to me to let it be ruined by a person or two that likely will just fill a single seat anyway.

I'm not sure why so many *enthusiasts* get a stick up their butt about it. I've seen some people get so irate about this. It doesn't even upset me at all unless it's obvious they are just trying to skip the line. Letting your kid catch up to you in line or a friend isn't that big of a deal to me at all and it will make no noticeable difference in how long I wait in line.

Now when some parents drop their kid off at the door of Chipotle and then I'm standing in line behind them assuming it's a short line and then the parents come marching in after parking with 6 other kids as well as themselves, Yeah I've been upset about that before but that's not what is going on at KI.