14 year old Tyre Sampson horrifically dies on Orlando ride, possibly due to someone not doing their job properly

[Deleted member 5865]

Teen dies after fall from drop tower ride at Orlando's ICON PARK, authorities say

A teenager fell to his death while riding an Orlando-area drop tower attraction, according to officials with the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

www.fox35orlando.com

ORLANDO, Fla. - A teenager fell to his death while riding an Orlando-area drop tower attraction, according to officials with the Orange County Sheriff's Office.


Several law enforcement officers, firefighters, and paramedics responded to ICON Park in Orlando, Florida late Thursday evening after a 911 caller reported the incident at the popular tourist attraction on International Drive.





Witnesses on the scene told deputies that someone had fallen off the Orlando Free Fall ride, which opened in December 2021.


The Orange County Sheriff's Office later confirmed that a 14-year-old boy was transported to the hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Click to shrink...

There's a suuuuuuuuper NSFL video on Twitter floating around of the kid getting launched off the ride and to their death. I won't post that but I will link to a SFW vid that paints the park employee in a bad light, as they're seen chilling and not securing everyone's seatbelts and stuff



Smh this is insane. Someone's getting in trouble

 

[Jaychrome91]

I saw this earlier. What a horrible way to die. May that young kid rip. Fuckups like this should never happen.

 

[MasterYoshi]

I have always been too afraid to get on one of those rides.

RIP, what an absolute tragedy for the victim and his family and loved ones.

 

[Zulith]

yeah I've been reading about this... incredible that it was captured on video... and horrific.

Can they confirm who was saying the seatbelt lines right as the ride is ascending? If it's the ride operator who you see in frame he doesn't seem to be talking to the person who fell, they are further down the other side aren't they?

 

[xxracerxx]

Fuck me that video you posted. God damn poor kid.

 

[Golding]

this is terrible...

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Poor kid. This shit is the exact reason why I hate drop tower rides. That's one fear I just can't get out of my brain and it actually happened to someone. :(

 

[GoldenEye 007]

Any ride safety system that relies on a park operator alone as the main fail safe is a terrible design. I hesitate to pin this on what is likely a min wage or close to it worker when the seat design should have a secondary harness/belt of some sort.

 

[GulAtiCa]

Please don't post the video and please don't share the video. Something like that shouldn't be online. Only going to haunt the family to know their sons death will live on forever online..

 

[B'z-chan]

Watching the full video you can tell the staff aren't taking their job seriously enough as ride ops. It's disgusting what happened and I know not enough will be done about this persons death because of this happening in Florida.

 

[Stooge]

Any ride safety system that relies on a park operator alone as the main fail safe is a terrible design. I hesitate to pin this on what is likely a min wage or close to it worker when the seat design should have a secondary harness/belt of some sort.

Click to shrink...

This. There should be a system.

 

[Astral]

I regret watching the video. That splat sound made me fucking sick.

 

[Parthenios]

Most of our rides at Six Flags wouldn't even start if the seats weren't closed properly, and this was like 15 years ago. What kind of cheap carney ride was this park operating?

 

[Rosebud]

Fuck

 

[Jerm411]

I was at Schlitterbahn in KCK when the tragic incident with Caleb Schwab happened….I've been real skittish about any amusement or water park since.

I love rollercoasters and that's about it….I still have high anxiety when riding one though.

Feel so sorry for that kid and his family…just awful. RIP. 😔

 

[GoldenEye 007]

And I should add… obviously horrifying for the victim and his family. I couldn't imagine what they're going through.

 

[smurfx]

someone showed me this video at work today. didn't think there was any way somebody could survive. sadly it was a kid. i don't know how there aren't several fail safes in place to make sure something like this doesn't happens. btw the fact that this video is everywhere online is equally horrible. can't imagine what their family is going through.

 

[Z-Beat]

Horrifying. This thought crosses my mind whenever I'm on a ride where my weight is pressing on the safety restraint because I'm upside down or something

 

[Brewm0nt]

Been seeing this all day on my socials since I live in Orlando. Don't really see the point in spreading this further.

 

[canonj]

There's a suuuuuuuuper NSFL video on Twitter floating around of the kid getting launched off the ride and to their death. I won't post that but I will link to a SFW vid that paints the park employee in a bad light, as they're seen chilling and not securing everyone's seatbelts and stuff

Click to shrink...

Apparently this ride doesn't have seat belts. I haven't watched the video, and I don't know anything about this particular drop tower model, but if it's programmed to start operation when someone isn't properly secured then at least some fault must go to the ride designer/manufacturer. I feel sorry for everyone who had to witness this accident.

 

[Deleted member 5865]

Apparently this ride doesn't have seat belts. I haven't watched the video, and I don't know anything about this particular drop tower model, but if it's programmed to start operation when someone isn't properly secured then at least some fault must go to the ride designer/manufacturer. I feel sorry for everyone who had to witness this accident.

Click to shrink...

I didn't know if it was a seatbelt thing or a harness but agreed there's 0 reason for this ride to work if a person clearly isn't secured

 

[EvilChameleon]

Most of our rides at Six Flags wouldn't even start if the seats weren't closed properly, and this was like 15 years ago. What kind of cheap carney ride was this park operating?

Click to shrink...

The company that makes the ride, Funtime, has been around since 1998, so this isn't some knockoff ride.

 

[rsfour]

There isn't enough redundancies on these rides. I can't imagine what the family is going through.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

I didn't know if it was a seatbelt thing or a harness but agreed there's 0 reason for this ride to work if a person clearly isn't secured

Click to shrink...

The only restraint is the harness. And obviously the ride is able to operate even if all harnesses aren't fully locked. And there is no secondary lap belt or anything.

 

[mrmickfran]

I live in Orlando so I see this ride on the regular. Some of my friends on fb were posting about the incident.

I can't even begin to imagine what his parents felt when they saw it happen. A tragic, avoidable accident. RIP

 

[TaySan]

What a horrible way to go :( This should never happen and staff should be held accountable.

 

[Rodney McKay]

There's a reason Disney has you tug in the yellow straps of the safety belt when you're in a ride, even with the slow ones.

The fact a ride this dangerous wouldn't have required mechanical safety features (on top of staff being trained) is completely negligent.

 

[grang]

Beware, there is an extremely graphic video out there. It starts looking up at the ride as the platform with seats is near the top, if you see a video starting like that immediately stop it.

 

[Kyuuji]

Kid just out having a good time with friends and now he's gone thanks to the negligence of someone who couldn't be fucked to do their job properly. Be it maintenance or checking pre-ride, these things have an obvious risk and people working on and alongside them should be constantly aware of what slack on their end can result in. Heartbreaking that some kid had to die because of it.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

Horrific stuff. Belts/straps are pretty rare as supplemental restraints on amusement rides, but you can tell that the overhead restraints on this kid weren't anywhere near snug. The pivot point looks like it's at least 45 degrees outward from everyone else.

If he was too big for the ride, the staff and safety systems on the ride itself should have know this.

 

[Dyle]

It's really bizarre that this is even possible, a ride like this should never be able to lift off the ground if a restraint isn't secured

The fact that there have been 2 incidents of this nature recently goes to show what a poor job some operators have been doing at training new staff.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

So, so so sad :(

 

[HiLife]

Awful fucking video.

 

[KeyBladerXIII]

Horrible. Thats why I avoid those rides and any shitty, obviously cheap ass amusement park attractions. I see Icon Park every time I drive to get to Universal or Disney and I can tell its low quality carnival crap. I say shut the place down.

 

[echoshifting]

Is that not the second time in less than a year a child has died on a drop ride, likely due to negligence?

Awful for the family that there is graphic video out on the wild internet, just awful. No interest in seeing any of it.

 

[WaveBird]

I've been on this ride and the slingshot (and the swings but I believe they're a different owner?). I've never felt as safe as I do at the parks on these and I rarely ever did it more than once. I can count on one hand just because the vibe was/is always very carny-esque.

I feel terrible for the people who where there and the family. Sadly someone tried showing me the video at work and I saw the worst of it. Terrible thing to have on the Internet. I'd be okay if they never re-opened under their current management.

 

[EvilChameleon]

So someone on WDWMagic posted a photo of how far askew his harness was compared to the rest, and then tilted the image to match the tilt on the ride, and it's no wonder why he slid right on out.

 

[natjjohn]

Been awhile since I've rode a tower drop but thought they typically had a back up safety belt. Though can see in the video, on the left side, which I'm assuming is the victim, the shoulder harness is way up and doesn't appear snug at all. For someone that big, would think it would be uncomfortably tight on them. How awful.

 

[Sanjuro]

That video is rough, though it does spell out just about everything you need to know of the park's negligence

 

[MasterChumly]

Most of our rides at Six Flags wouldn't even start if the seats weren't closed properly, and this was like 15 years ago. What kind of cheap carney ride was this park operating?

Click to shrink...

Yea I don't understand. I thought feature like this were standard. If it's not locked the ride won't start.

 

[Foffy]

Saw the video earlier when I was made aware of this story and it's absolutely horrifying. I originally thought his seat decoupled from the ride, but instead he fell out because he wasn't properly restrained in it? That's even worse.

People have mentioned there have been staff that have been indifferent to making sure people are securely locked in on the ride, but I'm unsure if that's people adding to this story or if this is corroborated information. This ride hasn't even been around for half a year and something like this happens. Horrible stuff...

Most of our rides at Six Flags wouldn't even start if the seats weren't closed properly, and this was like 15 years ago. What kind of cheap carney ride was this park operating?

Click to shrink...

Where is the Six Flags at? I'm not sure if there are federal regulations for things like this, but if it's a state regulation, this happened in Florida, a state rather infamous for "individual liberty" and whatnot. Disney might go further than requested on regulations and guidelines but that's because they know full well they want to avoid any sort of incident.

 

[SealedSeven]

Not having a seatbelt in the middle / 3 point harness on these rides is beyond me. The ride designers should also be hit hard with a lawsuit.

 

[Zeliard]

What I don't get is that video of the ride operator yelling that someone's seatbelt wasn't properly secured, and then the ride just… continues. It's not even like it had any momentum where stopping it then would have been dangerous (relatively). It had just gotten started.

 

[HardRojo]

Been seeing this all day on my socials since I live in Orlando. Don't really see the point in spreading this further.

Click to shrink...

Some people just love spreading that kind of stuff for no reason, it's like they get off of it. I always try to be careful when opening videos from chat groups because of this.

 

[Zip]

Yeah I don't trust any of these rides.

I don't understand why they seem to make a point of having flimsy harnesses and safety features.

I remember one of the last rides I went on the safety restraint was basically just a circle over your crotch. This was for a ride that went on steep angles and dives from high heights.

Poor kid and family.

 

[Falcon511]

Oof that was a difficult watch. The ride operators should be checking every seat to make sure its locked. I have dreams about this happening to me.


When my sister was like 3 or 4, she was on a ride where you sit in a swing and it lifts you off the ground and spins around. Somehow she was able to start standing up while the ride was moving. This was back in the early 90s when it was just a metal bar preventing you from slipping out.

 

[DigitalOp]

Why are you not expected to do required safety checks because youre getting paid minimum wage?

Some of you really excuse everything under the guise of virtue

 

[NPVinny]

I've passed by this place many a time and even if I was into these kind of rides I wouldn't give it a go. Just screams unsafe to me.

RIP to him and condolences to his family.

 

[kmfdmpig]

That's awful. I feel terrible for the family. 14 is so young.

 

[GMM]

Saw the video on Reddit, it's a real bad one, what a terrible way to go. The twitter video posted in the OP seems to been from just a few seconds before the accident video begins, same people and angle, is this confirmed as showing the poor teen on the left with the somewhat open restraint?

At the end of the gruesome video showing the accident you can see two employees talk to each other with one of them asking if they are sure they checked all the restraints, with the guy closest to the ride saying that they did check the seats. Yet the twitter video have employees yelling "SEATS!" and the ride KEEPS going, at that point the emergency stop button should be pressed.

Them starting the ride with the restraint not locking in further is terrible and they should be held accountable for the negligence taking place, but this shouldn't be solely limited to the people responsible for operating the ride.

The ride designers and safety entities responsible for certifying such dangerous designs should be held accountable, it shouldn't be able to start at all if the seats can't lock beyond a certain threshold and a belt strap going between the legs should be implemented as well. Went to Disneyland Paris two weeks ago and even something like RC Racer with a mild risk of people flying around in the seat had a very safe seat design:

I just don't get how something like this ride could be designed in the way it was and passed safety evaluations, the seat design itself was a disaster waiting to happen with how it lacks a locking mechanism in the bottom.