The mystery surrounding how a 14-year-old boy fell out of an Orlando amusement ride has deepened as investigators confirmed that the seat he was riding in was secured.
The odd conclusion was shared in an accident report by the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. When Tyre Sampson boarded the Orlando FreeFall ride in ICON Park on Thursday, video of him just moments before the ride took off appeared to show his harness not properly secured. When the ride dropped 430 feet, Sampson was released from his seat and fell to his death. Once the ride came to a complete stop, the harness was down in a locked position.
Sampson’s family strongly believes that he may have been too heavy to enjoy the ride safely. The young football player was 6-foot-5, 340 pounds. However, according to the safety manual, the maximum weight for the ride was 287 pounds. His cousin also revealed that Sampson was denied access to two rides before he got on the FreeFall due to his size.
Virginia-based private ride safety inspector, Ken Martin, agrees that Sampson weighed too much to be on the ride and that the operators should have turned him away. Martin is also concerned with the lack of seatbelts on the ride that would serve as a secondary restraint.
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspected the ride in December 2021, when it first opened. While it passed the initial inspection, the ride operator is tasked with examining it daily.
The SlingShot Group has closed the Orlando FreeFall and the Orlando SlingShot indefinitely. The investigation remains ongoing.
