Employer of the Week: 6 Flags

MARIETTA, Ga. (CN) - A concession stand worker claims Six Flags Over Georgia managers harassed and interrogated her for 4 hours after she was stabbed and robbed, prevented her from leaving - and even suggested that she had "done it to herself." She demands punitive damages for negligence, false imprisonment and pain and suffering.

Rita Lingefelt worked for Snack Attack Concessions, a joint venture with co-defendant Six Flags, on Six Flags' grounds, when she was stabbed on Aug. 28, 2010. She was on her last day of medical leave, recovering from surgery, she says in her complaint in Cobb County Court.

She says the man who stabbed and robbed her entered the grounds through a hole in a fence around a poorly lit employee parking lot. The hole in the fence still had not been repaired when she resigned on Oct. 2, she adds.

After she was stabbed, she says, "Six Flags management began to scrutinize her behavior and began harassing Ms. Lingefelt.

"The Loss Prevention sector of Six Flags took Ms. Lingefelt into a room for four hours and questioned her regarding the incident and whether she had 'done it to herself.'

"Loss Prevention employee Jim Helms told Ms. Lingefelt she was not allowed to leave during this time period."

Lingefelt say that Six Flags "was on notice regarding the third party crime problems in that area based on the numerous police reports made for similar incidents and similar locations."

To top it off, she says, "The Cobb County investigator in charge of investigating the aggravated assault against Ms. Lingefelt, Investigator Bates, states that crimes of this nature are routine on Six Flags property and it is commonplace for them to attempt to terminate an employee with a simultaneous criminal trespass warning after they have been the victim of a crime."

Since she was attacked, Lingefelt says, she "carries Mace and a Taser with her at all times in fear of being attacked again ... has difficulties sleeping, leaving the house alone, and suffers from panic attacks."

She adds: "Not only did Six Flags fail to take preventative or remedial measures, they harassed and intimidated victims from whom they feared may hold them legally accountable for their negligence."

She is represented by Shannon Briley with Knight & Briley of Atlanta.

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit