‘Unreasonably dangerous': Family of Tyre Sampson, boy who fell to death, sues ICON Park

Ginny Beagan, Florida Today
·6 min read
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A promising future was cut short and the video went viral.

Now the tragic death of 14-year-old Tyre Sampson, who died March 24 when he fell from the FreeFall ride at ICON Park in Orlando, is headed for litigation.

Sampson's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday, accusing the park, ride operator and manufacturer of negligence.

"I can't be weak, sometimes I wanted to," Nekia Dodd, Tyre's mother said. "He would want me stand up for what's right. In his honor, I have to."

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What happened on the FreeFall ride?

The Orlando FreeFall at ICON Park is the world’s tallest free-standing drop tower, according to the park. Once the 30 riders reach the top, the ride tilts forward before falling at more than 75 mph.
The Orlando FreeFall at ICON Park is the world’s tallest free-standing drop tower, according to the park. Once the 30 riders reach the top, the ride tilts forward before falling at more than 75 mph.

Tyre Sampson was an A student and a rising middle school football player from Missouri. He was in Orlando for a weeklong training camp when he went to ICON Park. On the FreeFall ride, 30 passengers rise to the top, tilt forward and plunge nearly 400 feet at speeds reaching more than 75 mph, according to a January news release from the park.

Tyre was 14 but already 6 feet, 5 inches tall and well over 300 pounds. A field report from Quest Engineering and Failure Analysis Inc. in Tallahassee said Tyre slipped through a gap between the seat and an over-the-shoulder harness that lowers over riders’ torsos. Tyre fell at least a hundred feet onto hard pavement after he was ejected from the ride, according to a statement by Ben Crump.

NBC news obtained a video of the incident and reports that a voice is heard asking: “Why doesn’t this have the little clicky click to it, like the seat belt?”

As the ride lifts off, a voice from the ground is heard shouting: “Hey, did you check your seat belt on the left side? Seat belt! Seat belt!”

The ride's operations and maintenance manual lists the maximum rider weight as approximately 287 pounds but no height or weight restrictions were posted at the ticket counter and employees were not trained on the restrictions, according to the lawsuit.

The accident report of the teenager's fall from the Orlando ride

An accident report released last week found that the sensors on Tyre's seat were manually adjusted, which allowed the ride to operate while his seat had a restraint opening almost twice as large as normal even though it was unsafe. The average restraint opening is about 3 inches, but on two modified seats, the gap was about 6 inches and it may have expanded even further during the ride, the report found.

Trevor Arnold, the attorney for Orlando Slingshot, which owns and operated the ride, maintains that all protocols, procedures and safety measures provided by the manufacturer of the ride were followed.

What Tyre's mom is saying

Nekia Dodd is determined to see that theme park safety changes are made at the state and national level so no parent will have to go through what she did. At a news conference in St. Louis, Dodd talked about the night she got the devastating news by phone.

"I couldn't touch him, I couldn't hold him, I couldn't hug him, all I could do was cry on the phone. I don't wish that on any parent."

The lawsuit alleges that while most rides similar to the Free Fall are equipped with a harness and seat belt, the Orlando ride did not have them. The suit goes on to estimate the cost to add $22 seat belts to the ride's 30 seats is $660.

"You didn't want to miss a dollar, but you stripped me of my son," Dodd said. "It's disgusting."

The Sampson's family also plans to lobby Congress to improve theme park safety.

Ben Crump and the Tyre Sampson family lawsuit

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Tyre's father, Yarnell Sampson in the suit, said in a statement Monday the ride and seat manufacturer failed to properly implement safety features.

“Is the manufacturer partly responsible? We believe so. Absolutely. Does that absolve the operators’ culpability? We think not... this was a cascade of gross negligence on multiple parties’ parts. That’s why we have multiple defendants,” Crump said at a news briefing.
“Is the manufacturer partly responsible? We believe so. Absolutely. Does that absolve the operators’ culpability? We think not... this was a cascade of gross negligence on multiple parties’ parts. That’s why we have multiple defendants,” Crump said at a news briefing.

“The defendants in Tyre’s case showed negligence in a multitude of ways,” Crump said. “One of the most glaring examples was failing to provide a $22 seatbelt on a ride that cost several million dollars to construct."

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The lawsuit claims the ride was "unreasonably dangerous" and that Tyre died as a direct result of the negligence of ICON Park, which leased the space; the Slingshot Group; Funtime Handels GmbH, the Austrian company that manufactured the ride; and Keator Construction, which built the ride. Multiple other businesses connected to the ride are named in the suit.

The companies failed to warn Tyre of the ride's height and weight restrictions, failed to properly train their employees, and failed to provide an appropriate restraint system like a secondary seatbelt, according to an advanced copy of the lawsuit provided to USA TODAY by the family's attorneys.

“Is the manufacturer partly responsible? We believe so. Absolutely. Does that absolve the operators’ culpability? We think not... this was a cascade of gross negligence on multiple parties’ parts. That’s why we have multiple defendants,” Crump said at a news briefing.

Attorney Michael Haggard, who represents Tyre's mother in the lawsuit, said the operator manipulated the harness "for the illogical purpose of allowing bigger riders to go in there which goes against every industry standard."

It's unclear who adjusted the seats and when, but Haggard said criminal charges are possible depending on the outcome of the state's investigation.

"When you intentionally do something and it results in someone's death, that can be negligent homicide. That could be manslaughter," he said.

Is the Orlando FreeFall ride open?

The Orlando FreeFall ride is shown at ICON Park in Orlando, Fla., on Thursday, March 24, 2022. A 14-year-old boy fell to his death from a ride at an amusement park in Orlando, sheriff's officials said. Sheriff's officials and emergency crews responded to a call late Thursday at Icon Park, which is located in the city's tourist district along International Drive. The boy fell from the Orlando Free Fall ride, which opened late last year.

The ride has been closed since the tragic fall and will remain closed indefinitely, said Nikki Fried, Florida commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, last week.

The drop tower ride had only been open since December and touted itself as the highest drop in the world at 430 feet. The ride was inspected for the first time on Dec. 20. No deficiencies were found, and the ride passed its inspection, according to NBC news.

In 2020, a 21-year-old worker died after falling 50 to 60 feet from the StarFlyer attraction at ICON Park. The man was conducting a safety check on the ride, a 450-foot spinning swing ride when he fell.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Tyre Sampson death lawsuit: ICON Park accusations leveled in documents