The State of Florida has released a report of findings from its investigation into the death of a 14-year-old boy at a Central Florida theme park in March.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) released a report today that details the findings of an engineering firm hired by the State of Florida in the investigation into the death of Tyre Sampson, a 14-year-old boy who died after falling from the Orlando FreeFall drop tower attraction at Orlando’s ICON Park on International Drive.
The agency is the entity responsible for amusement ride accident investigations, among its many other responsibilities.
According to the report, written by Quest Engineering & Failure Analysis, the operator of the Orlando FreeFall attraction changed sensors on specific seats on the ride manually. The manual adjustments rendered the drop tower attraction unsafe.
In the report, the engineering firm states that the manual changes made by the operator allowed the safety harnesses on those seats to open to “almost double” the normal range, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner, Nikki Fried.
Tyre Sampson was only 14 years old when he boarded the Orlando FreeFall drop tower attraction on Thursday night, March 24, taking a seat on the ride with friends. Sampson reportedly weighed approximately 340 pounds, exceeding the drop tower ride‘s maximum weight.
“These misadjustments [by the operator] allowed the safety lights to illuminate and properly satisfy the ride‘s electronic safety mechanisms that allowed the ride to operate, even though Mr. Sampson was not properly secured in the seat,” Fried said.
The day after the tragic accident, John Stine, a spokesman for the Slingshot Group, owner of the Orlando FreeFall attraction, talked about how the attraction works, saying the ride would not be operational if a harness is not locked in properly.
“Our harnesses have to lock in, and they have to lock or else the ride will not operate, so this is what we are looking into,” Stine explained.
Commissioner Nikki Fried held a brief press conference shortly after releasing the engineering firm’s report, but she didn’t take any questions from the press. During the conference, Fried did not say whether the ride operator would face criminal charges, but she said that the agency was looking into what she called “potential penalties.”
She did not mention whether the ride operator could potentially face criminal charges in the case but said the agency was looking at “potential penalties.”
Fried said that these findings are part of the initial phase of the investigation, and that the investigation is still ongoing.
Nikki Fried further stated that the engineering report names “many other potential contributing factors” in the tragic accident. The commissioner also said that the drop tower ride will remain closed indefinitely.
The safety harness on the seat of a 14-year-old teen who fell to his death at the Orlando FreeFall amusement park ride last week was still locked when the ride ended, according to the official accident report obtained by USA Today.
Tyre Sampson fell from the drop tower ride when he and other riders were hundreds of feet above the ground, and according to the preliminary accident report, he fell when magnets on the ride engaged in order to slow down the ride as riders came down the tower toward the ground.
Ken Martin, a Virginia-based independent ride safety inspector and amusement park safety analyst says the operator’s manual for the Orlando FreeFall ride at ICON Park on International Drive in Orlando seems to lay responsibility for the accident that took the life of 14-year-old Tyre Sampson at the feet of both the ride manufacturer and the ride operator at ICON Park.
“I don’t understand why there are failures on multiple levels,” Martin explained. “Failures at the manufacturer’s level, failure at the owner-operator level.”
Tyre Sampson was in Orlando on spring break from St. Louis, Missouri, and went to ICON Park with friends on Thursday evening. He and his friends boarded the Orlando FreeFall drop tower ride at ICON Park, each one taking a seat on the ride. But only minutes later, Sampson had fallen hundreds of feet, from his seat on the drop tower ride to the ground below. He was transported to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
ICON Park‘s Orlando FreeFall drop tower ride had only been open for three months when Tyre Sampson died. It was inspected and opened in December 2021, along with two other thrill rides at the Orlando amusement park.
Sampson’s fall and death resulted in a full-scale investigation by both the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the governing body in Florida which is responsible for the inspection of rides at amusement parks that employ fewer than 1,000 people. (Larger theme parks like Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Studios Orlando, and Sea World Orlando are responsible for the inspection of their own rides and for the reporting of injuries on those rides.)
But according to the accident report and the latest information from the investigation, Sampson’s death wasn’t only related to the operator’s error. It was also related to a failure of the ride itself.
The ICON Park drop tower ride accommodates up to 30 riders at a time. Riders are seated in a ring that moves up a tall tower to a height of more than 400 feet. The ring then tilts riders forward before dropping them into a free fall toward the ground at a speed of 70 to 75 miles per hour.
The operator’s manual for the Orlando FreeFall ride states a maximum weight for riders, and Sampson was over the weight limit. One page of the manual describes limitations that pertain to “large people,” and warns the operator to “be careful when seeing if large guests fit into the seats.”
The manual further instructs the operator:
“Check that [riders] fit within the contours of the seat and the bracket fits properly. If this is not so, do not let this person ride.”
Ken Martin says no part of this tragedy was the fault of Tyre Sampson himself.
“This young man did nothing wrong,” Martin said. “It’s the owner operator’s responsibility to inform the rider what the requirements are.”
“The most spectacular thing that the industry has done lately is they put sample chairs outside the ride before you get into the queue line,” Martin explained during an interview. “Those model chairs are for you to sit down in and sit to see if you fit. If that chair existed at the entrance, that would be your first level of safety. It didn’t.”
Martin explained that the operator’s manual for the Orlando FreeFall drop tower ride says it would be almost impossible to operate the ride if all of the safety lights on the operator’s computer screen weren’t green. A green light on the Orlando FreeFall ride means that the restraint bars that go over riders’ heads and shoulders are locked down.
He also said that the preliminary accident report indicates that when the ride stopped on Thursday evening, the restraint bar over Tyre Sampson‘s seat was still locked down in place, despite the fact that Sampson was no longer in the seat. The report states the safety harness was “still in a down and locked position when the ride stopped.” It also lists three employees as witnesses.
“The safety bar has multiple positions,” said Martin. “And one of two things happened: the rider was able to lock it in the first position or the rider was able to hold the bar down across his chest.”
According to Martin, Tyre Sampson was too big to ride on the Orlando FreeFall. “A restraint system is not a one-size-fits-all,” he said.
Martin explained that the fact that the bar was down when the ride came to a stop doesn’t necessarily mean that it was engaged and working properly.
“I’ve seen people come out of lap bars that have been locked,” Martin shared.
According to Click Orlando, Ritchie Armstrong, CEO of the Slingshot Group, owner and operator of the Orlando FreeFall ride and the Orlando Slingshot ride at ICON Park, issued a statement on Tuesday. It reads:
“We are heartbroken by the loss of Tyre Sampson and absolutely devastated for his family and loved ones. We have suspended the operations of the Free Fallride and the Slingshot ride at Icon Park. We are fully cooperating with the authorities at the state and local levels who are investigating this tragic incident. We plan on providing additional information in the coming days, as we learn more.”
Riders and safety experts alike have questioned the absence of a secondary restraint, such as a safety belt. Ken Martin said that such secondary restraints are usually a standard component in similar rides. He said a secondary restraint could have been life-saving for Tyre Sampson.
A teenager died last Thursday evening after falling from a drop tower amusement park ride at an Orlando theme park on International Drive.
This week was spring break for 14-year-old Tyre Sampson, who had come to Orlando from Missouri and was visiting the ICON Park theme park with friends. Late in the evening on March 24, Sampson and his friends took their seats aboard the new Orlando FreeFall attraction at ICON Park and prepared for the rise to a height of more than 400 feet and the thrilling freefall drop that would follow.
Shortly after 11:00 p.m., 911 calls began to come in to dispatchers, asking for emergency help after someone had fallen from the attraction. That someone was 14-year-old Sampson. The young man was transported to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
According to CNN, Sampson was visiting Orlando from his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, with his football team.
“He was a very good young man,” the boy’s father, Yarnell Sampson said of his son. “He was a big teddy bear, a gentle giant.”
Video from that evening appears to show a person falling from the attraction seat about 5 seconds into the drop as the ring of riders around the tower free-falls toward the ground. Mr. Sampson told CNN he saw the video. “My life stopped,” he said.
“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,” said Montrey Williams, who said he witnessed the tragedy. “Everyone was just panicking and screaming.”
“I want to know what really happened,” the young boy’s father said. “You know what, you know, why a 14-year-old young man with a bright future has been taken away from us.”
Friday morning, investigators from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs arrived to begin their investigation into the fall that led to Sampson’s death, closing the attraction until further notice. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an investigation as well to determine whether the fall was an accident or if intentional actions led to the fall.
On Friday during a press conference, Orange County Sheriff Mina said the fall looks like an accidental and “terrible tragedy.”
The attraction from which Sampson fell, the Orlando FreeFall attraction, is touted by its owners at the Slingshot Group as “the world’s tallest freestanding drop tower.” It stands 430 feet tall and can accommodate 30 riders at a time. The ride was inspected, approved, and permitted on the same day it opened, December 20, 2021, along with two other attractions at Orlando’s ICON Park: the Orlando Slingshot and the Starflyer.
According to Florida law, because the three attractions are permanent, they were not due for another inspection until June 2022. Attractions like these are required to be inspected twice per year, but this only applies to theme parks with fewer than 1,000 employees.
Photos and video taken that evening appears to show a problem with the restraint on the chair in which Sampson was seated for the ride, but this hasn’t been confirmed at this time.
“Our harnesses have to lock in, and they have to lock or else the ride will not operate, so this is what we are looking into,” said John Stine, a spokesman for the Slingshot Group who owns the Orlando FreeFall attraction.
ICON Park posted a statement on its website, responding to the tragedy. It reads:
A tragedy occurred last night at the Orlando FreeFall and our hearts are heavy with sadness.
The owner of the attraction is fully cooperating with authorities and ICON Park is doing everything we can to assist. Statements from the Orlando FreeFall and Orange County Sheriff’s Office are below:
The Orlando FreeFall will be closed pending a full investigation. Other businesses at ICON Park are scheduled to be open during their normal business hours.
On the Orlando ICON Park website, there is also a statement from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, which reads:
“On March 24, 2022, at 11:12 p.m., deputies responded to 8433 International Drive (Orlando Free Fall) for a 911 emergency. Witnesses on scene reported that someone had fallen from the ride. A 14-year-old male was transported to the hospital, where he died from his injuries. This death investigation is in its very early stages. This is all the information we have for release at this time. We will send updates when they become available.”
In addition to these statements, the Slingshot Group also released a statement that is posted on the ICON Park website:
“We are heartbroken with the incident that took the life of one of our guests. We extend our condolences and deepest sympathy to his family and friends. We are working with the Sheriff’s Office and ride officials on a full investigation. The Orlando FreeFall will be closed until further notice.”
