Claims that a woman who was saved from a stalled roller coaster due was suing the firefighter who helped her circulated online in early June 2026. Users on social media shared a video claiming that a Galveston, Texas, firefighter had been accused of "inappropriate touching" while he helped the purported victim down from the stuck coaster.
The claim circulated following the malfunction of a roller coaster on May 28, 2026, at Pleasure Pier in Galveston.
The claim was false. The Galveston Fire Department told Snopes via email there was no truth to the alleged lawsuit, and evidence from the video spreading the rumor indicated it was fictional.
While there was plenty of local and national reporting about the incident at Pleasure Pier, there were no credible outlets reporting on the supposed lawsuit. Additionally, the video alleging such a claim mixed footage from the May 28 malfunction with other amusement park incidents, further suggesting the claim was false and that the video was created to spread misinformation.
The video claimed "a woman" was suing the firefighter who rescued her; however, the riders stuck on the roller coaster were students from Energized for STEM Academy Middle School and Energized for STEM Academy High School in Houston, according to Houston Public Media.
Other local news outlets also reported the riders were students and all provided a statement from the school district that said, "We are grateful that all students, staff, and chaperones are safe. School administration is in direct contact with the families of all students who were on the trip."
Snopes also contacted the Houston Independent School District for comment on the claim and will update this article if we hear back.
The ride that stopped at Pleasure Pier was called The Iron Shark, which Pleasure Pier's website described as "a 100-foot vertical lift and beyond-vertical drop," with a car that holds eight passengers.
An NBC News report showed extensive footage of the rescue operation, which clearly depicts eight passengers stuck vertically, their backs toward the ground, on the main climb of the ride.
The additional footage used in the clip spreading the lawsuit rumor featured various other roller coaster stoppages. It was also clear from the footage from the various rescues that the firefighters depicted were rescuing stalled riders at a very high altitude and from a difficult angle. The voiceover was likely created using generative AI made to sound like an authentic news report, but we have not yet been able to independently verify that.
The chief of the Galveston Fire Department praised the rescue workers during a news conference following the rescue and told reporters that in this situation, the firefighters were "providing them direction on what to do, where to step, how to come down on that ladder all the way through down the ladder till they get down on the ground."
NBC News reported that Pleasure Pier management said the coaster suffered a malfunction which caused the ride to stop as a safety precaution. The park said the ride would remain closed until further inspection was completed.