Ride Maker, Park Neglect Led to Teen’s Free-Fall Death, Lawsuit Alleges
Tyre Sampson’s family has accused the Orlando amusement park of valuing its bottom line over safety.
Jeff Greenberg
The family of a 14-year-old boy who fell to his death from a drop tower in Florida is suing the amusement park and the ride’s manufacturer for allegedly neglecting proper safety precautions.
“This is a cascade of grossly negligent conduct by a full team of culpable and sophisticated defendants—all willing to sacrifice the simplest of safety measures to assure themselves the quickest and biggest payday possible,” family attorney Bob Hilliard said in a press release Monday.
Tyre Sampson was at Icon Amusement Park in Orlando in March for a spring break trip. He died on the Free Fall ride, which falls at 75 miles per hour and is the “world’s tallest free-standing drop tower, standing at 430 feet,” according to a lawsuit filed by Ben Crump Law and Hilliard Martinez Gonzales on behalf of the family.
Tyre—who stood at 6 feet, 2 inches and weighed 380 pounds—was allowed on the ride without any hesitation from staff even though he was significantly over the weight limit, according to the court documents.
The lawsuit also argues that most drop rides have both a harness and seatbelt to secure riders, but the Free Fall ride only had an over-the-shoulder harness. While on the ride, Tyre was released and fell hundreds of feet to his death.
“The defendants in Tyre’s case showed negligence in a multitude of ways. One of the most glaring examples was failing to provide a $22 seatbelt on a ride that cost several million dollars to construct,” injury attorney Benjamin Crump said. “From the ride and seat manufacturers and the installer to the owners and operators, the defendants had more than enough chances to enact safeguards, such as seatbelts, that could have prevented Tyre’s death. They didn’t, and their poor decisions resulted in deadly consequences for a promising young man and lifelong pain for his family.”
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The lawsuit filed by Tyre’s family says that park staff members manipulated sensors so that the ride could begin even though the teen’s harness had not been properly closed, and alleges the manufacturer of the ride did not provide any warning about the danger of adjusting the sensors.
Icon park attendee Montrey Williams told a local Fox affiliate that he thought part of the ride had broken off when Tyre fell.
“At first we thought it was a piece of the ride or whatever until we got a little closer and it was a person laying on the ground,” he said. “Everyone was just panicking and screaming.”
Icon Amusement Park did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment Monday.
The park is billed as “plenty of fun for everyone” and sits on 20 acres in Orlando’s Entertainment District. Though the Free Fall ride has been closed during the investigation of Tyre’s death, the park remains open.
“We will hold these defendants accountable for their failures so that a tragedy like this never has to happen again,” Crump said.
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