Two injured on roller coaster inside California's Great America theme park

SANTA CLARA, CA -- Friday evening, two people were injured on a roller coaster at California's Great America in Santa Clara.

A park maintenance worker was struck in the head by a rider 8:15 p.m. Friday on the Flight Deck roller coaster.

The Flight Deck ride is an inverted roller coaster where riders' legs freely dangle from the coaster. The original name of this ride was Top Gun.

Ambulances arrived on scene and the worker and the parkgoer were both transported to the hospital. The worker suffered traumatic injuries and the rider's hand was injured.

Witnesses told ABC7 News that the park employee was hurt while trying to retrieve a dropped cellphone near the ride's platform and the coaster drug him about 10-15 feet.

The park remained open until its usual time of 10 p.m. People leaving the park said Great America usually has a fireworks show at the end of the night, but there wasn't one Friday night.

Authorities say the ride will be shut down while they do their investigation and look at all the safety aspects of the ride. They said at this point it did not appear that the ride malfunctioned.

It's not the first time there's been an accident like this at Great America. Back in September 1998 a Mexican National, Renato Robles, was killed on what was known then as the Top Gun roller coaster. He was kicked in the head by a passenger when he jumped a security fence to retrieve his wife's hat.