Credit: Icon ParkOn March 14, 2022, 14-year-old Tyre Sampson visited Icon Park in Orlando, Florida — a small amusement park located about eight miles from the Walt Disney World Resort. Tyre was large for his age and had struggled to fit on several of the rides at the amusement park before he decided to try to ride the Orlando FreeFall.
The attraction lifted guests 430 feet into the air before sending them plummeting to the ground in a thrilling ride that people loved to experience.
Much like the other attractions, Tyre struggled to fit onto the Orlando FreeFall. However, after some adjustments made by the ride operator, he was locked into his seat. Or so he thought.
Related: Teen “Crushed to Death” By Ride After Breaking Into Amusement Park
According to the father of one of Tyre’s friends, the teenager appeared to fall from his seat as the ride sped downwards, reaching speeds of up to 75 miles per hour. Sadly, Tyre could not hold on and fell nearly 100 feet, and tragically died instantly after suffering blunt force trauma.
After Tyre’s sudden passing, his family demanded answers, and it was revealed that a lot of safety protocols were either broken or ignored, all of which led to what happened to Tyre.
It was determined that the ride operator had manually adjusted the ride to fit Tyre, which disrupted the safety sensors. The harness was also manually adjusted so he could fit, which caused the automatic shutdown mechanism to fail. Reports further indicated that Tyre exceeded the attraction’s weight limit.
Related: Orlando Attraction to be Torn Down Following Death of 14-Year-Old
Just one month after Tyre’s passing, his parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Funtime Thrill Rides, which manufactured the , , which is the owner and operator in Florida, and , which is the company who leased the space for the .
More than two years after Tyre’s death, an Orange County jury ordered Funtime Thrill Rides to pay $310 million to his parents — $155 million to Tyre’s mother and $155 million to his father, as they were not together.
Sadly, Tyre’s shocking death has had far-reaching implications, and another lawsuit has been filed, but not by his parents.
On March 26, Austin Campbell-Alexander — a former maintenance worker who worked on the Orlando FreeFall attraction — filed a lawsuit for $50,000 against several entities, including Orlando Eagle Drop Slingshot LLC, Extreme Amusement Rides LLC, Orlando Slingshot LLC, and others.
In his lawsuit, Mr. Campbell-Alexander claims that he told his supervisors about the safety rules that were being violated before Tyre Sampson fell to his death. He claims that, after Tyre’s death, he was asked to backfill maintenance logs and sign off on the completion of certain maintenance tasks that were never actually completed.
Mr. Campbell-Alexander claims that he refused to break the law. He was then placed on paid leave for almost one year before he was ultimately fired from his job.
“Such an override was knowingly dangerous to the public as the Freefall ride’s manufacturer set weight and height limits for riders,” the lawsuit, which was viewed by USA TODAY asserted.
“We will work to hold Orlando Eagle Drop Slingshot accountable and send a message to all ride owners and operators that you cannot sweep safety concerns under the rug or punish workers who bring them to light,” Campbell-Alexander’s attorneys John Morgan and Greg Schmitz of the Morgan & Morgan Law Firm said in a statement.
Eagle Drop Slingshot claims that Mr. Campbell-Alexander’s lawsuit directly contradicts his statements immediately following the March 2022 accident. They further claim that Mr. Campbell-Alexander was the one who adjusted the sensors that led to Tyre’s accident, which is why he was placed on leave in the first place.
The Orlando FreeFall was torn down on March 7, 2023, nearly one year after Tyre’s death.
We continue to keep Tyre Sampson’s family and loved ones in our thoughts and prayers. We hope they have found some healing in the time since his death.