‘Tyre Sampson Act’ passes, aims at ride safety but shields records

TALLAHASSEE — Florida lawmakers on Wednesday unanimously approved the Tyre Sampson Act, two bills that will close gaps in ride safety laws but shield records in active ride accident investigations from public view.

The legislation filed by State Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, is named for the St. Louis teen who fatally fell from the Orlando Free Fall drop tower on March 24, 2022. It will take effect July 1 if signed into law as expected.

Its approval is largely a relief for 14-year-old Tyre’s family, who have urged legislators to strengthen Florida’s ride safety laws since his death.

Tyre’s mother, Nekia Dodd, said Wednesday that her “number one goal … is to make sure this horrific tragedy never repeats itself.”

“I do not want any mother to go through what I have endured over the past year,” she said in a statement. “I want to thank the Florida Legislature, Senator Thompson and Representative [LaVon] Bracy [Davis] for passing the Tyre Sampson Bill. I urge Florida’s Governor to sign this bill, which will make all amusement rides safer for children.”

But Michael Haggard, an attorney representing Dodd, clarified in a later interview that although Tyre’s family is overall “very satisfied” with the ride safety bill, they are “not happy” with the records legislation.

Haggard said that bill could have kept the state from releasing key documents in Tyre’s accident investigation to the public, like the April engineering report that revealed tampering to two ride restraint safety sensors, in a timely manner.

“We are making things safer, and hopefully this never happens again so you don’t have the need to know the information, but we can’t guarantee that,” Haggard said in an interview. “And if a tragedy happens like this again, what a shame that the media isn’t going to be able to cover it, get those documents, so that the public knows whether these things are dangerous or not. And that’s unfortunate.”

The ride safety legislation follows frameworks Thompson and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services drafted last year to close gaps identified during the agriculture agency’s investigation into Tyre’s death.

The department’s inquiry found Tyre died after slipping through a restraint that investigators determined ride owner and operator Orlando Slingshot had modified to accommodate larger riders. Tyre, a football player who weighed 383 pounds, was allowed on the drop tower despite exceeding its weight limit by nearly 100 pounds.

Orlando Slingshot initially denied the agency’s claims but settled with the agriculture department in February, paying a $250,000 fine and agreeing to never operate the Orlando Free Fall again. It dismantled the Orlando Free Fall in March.

Thompson said she felt “gratified” to see the bills through the Legislature after pledging to reform safety laws following Tyre’s death.

“I look forward to working with FDACS to make sure that the programs we put in place actually are implemented,” she said, referring to the agriculture agency.

Bracy Davis, D-Orange County, sponsored the bills’ counterparts in the House. She said Tyre’s family and amusement ride stakeholders embraced the safety bill’s new provisions.

“When people visit our state, they should trust that all of our amusement parks, whether they have 20 employees or 2,000 employees, are being held to a certain safety standard,” she said in a statement. “This is the new standard. And this will ensure that tragedies like the one that happened to Tyre and his family will never happen again.”

Bipartisan lawmakers commended the ride safety measure. State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said “more intentional inspections are necessary so tragedies like this don’t happen again.”

The safety legislation applies to Florida’s attractions with fewer than 1,000 employees and their own full-time inspection staff. Disney World, Universal and SeaWorld are exempt and are allowed to do their own ride inspections.

It prevents attractions operators from making unauthorized adjustments to a ride’s restraint systems, and it also requires them to submit more detailed safety and operational documentation to the state, file an independent commissioning and certification report before each new ride’s first inspection and post more detailed rider requirements outside attractions.

Additionally, it broadens the agriculture department’s oversight, giving it authority to establish minimum training standards for attraction employees and conduct regular unannounced ride inspections to identify potential hazards.

Tyre’s family and ride safety specialist Brian Avery largely praised the bill in recent months but said they wanted the legislation to require secondary safety restraints on drop tower rides, since they believe a seat belt could have saved Tyre’s life. The ride’s manufacturer, Funtime, said the ride did not need seat belts because its restraint system had built-in safety measures.

An amendment proposed in the Agriculture Committee in March would have required such restraints on attractions that raise riders more than 100 feet, but it is absent from the bill’s final version.

The companion records legislation exempts all of the agriculture department’s records in an active ride investigation from public view. The records remain confidential “until an investigation is completed to ceases to be active,” contending that “the premature release of such records could frustrate or thwart” or “jeopardize” an active investigation.

Thompson said delaying these records’ release allows for a more thorough inquiry and prevents the public from jumping to conclusions.

“It is just to make sure that we’ve left no stone unturned before we present to the public,” she said in March.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services under former Commissioner Nikki Fried helped propose two drafts of legislative frameworks for the ride safety bill, and Thompson said it was involved in crafting the records legislation as well.

Agency spokesman Aaron Keller said Wednesday said current Commissioner Wilton Simpson secured funding for an additional 22 inspectors to supplement existing staff and ensure the agency can meet the legislation’s new requirements.

“We also fully support the Legislature creating an exemption for records related to an ongoing accident investigation, as it further protects the integrity of the investigative process and our investigators,” Keller said in a statement.

Orlando Slingshot’s attorney, Trevor Arnold, previously said the company supported the legislation as filed. Orlando Slingshot did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company has committed to donate $100,000 over five years to the Tyre ‘Big Tick’ Sampson Foundation L.L.C., an organization Dodd started to support school athletic programs. Family and friends have said Tyre was a star football player and honor roll student.

In April, Tyre’s family settled a civil lawsuit against Orlando Slingshot and its landlord, ICON Park, over his death. His parents’ negligence lawsuit against others involved in the ride’s manufacturing and construction is still ongoing.

krice@orlandosentinel.com and @katievrice on Twitter; jschweers@orlandosentinel.com