Moment girl, 16, was scalped and left bald after getting hair caught in go-kart engine

'I was thinking I was going to die. I thought that was my last time,' the teen said.

This is the horrific moment a 16-year-old girl was partially-scalped and suffered a bald spot after her hair got caught in a go-kart engine.

Matia Ruffin said the experience at Fun Land in Fredericksburg, Virginia over the weekend has completely traumatized her after her hair was ripped from her head, leaving her with a painful patch of raw skin.

‘She had a blood clot where her scalp actually lifted from her skull,’ her mother, Unique Coleman told WRIC.

Ruffin’s family traveled to Fun Land to experience their new multi-level go-kart race track. Fun Land’s website says shoulder-length hair must be secured while riding the go-karts, but Matia said her hair, which was tied up, came loose as she sped through the track on the go-kart and got entangled in the engine.

‘I was thinking I was going to die. I thought that was my last time,’ the teen said.

‘It was horrible. It was scary, horrifying, it was bad.’

Coleman said she heard screaming from the track, then realized it was her daughter.

‘My first instinct was I got to get her out of this go-kart. She was panicking and her legs were in the air. Her head was kind of leaned and tilted back,’ she said.

Employees began trying to saw Matia’s hair with knives and wire cutters, but they were unable to free her. Anytime they pulled on the teen’s hair, she was wracked with pain. Eventually, the authorities were called.

‘The staff, I didn’t feel like they were equipped to handle any emergency situation,’ Coleman said.

Paramedics arrived on scene and were eventually forced to disassemble the go-kart and use a harness to life the teen out.

Matia’s hair is now gone after it was cut, ripped and pulled out of her head. She said she has not been to school since the incident.

‘I’m completely bald, there’s nothing there. I’m self-conscious, scared to show people. I’m stuck with it for life. I have nightmares about it. I think about it all the time.’

Fun Land’s manager said Matia’s ordeal was the first time anything like that ever happened at the park, adding that employees undergo training for emergency situations.