An investigation into how 14-year-old Tyre Sampson fell to his death from the Orlando FreeFall drop tower ride at ICON Park has concluded that one of the rideâs harness sensors had been manually adjusted, according to a report.
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You have to understand a few things about amusement park/county fair rides (speaking from experience on county fair rides)
1. They don't vet their workers. My dad volunteered at a county fair ride for my sister's band fundraising and he was barely given any training on how to operate the ride, how long the ride should last, and who qualifies for the ride.
2. I went to my local county fair last August in 2021. I was 24 at the time (25 now) and I did not feel safe on any of those rides. Half of the ride operators seemed under the influence of Marijuana, cigarettes, etc. They did not look even remotely interested about everyone's safety. It's kind of one of those jobs where everyone's eyes glaze over.
3. When each ride only has 1 ride operator they don't have time to discern who does or does not qualify to participate based on height and weight requirements. Oftentimes it was a moshpit of kids getting in the seats and overtaking judgment if the ride operator.
At the time I was with my friends having a good time but this story really made me evaluate the risk to reward of going on those rides. Now I wouldn't go on those rides ever again. I'm single with no kids but I caution parents out there to exercise sound judgement when taking your kids to one of these parks. Prayers for this young man and his family so sad.
These rides should still always always have a secondary seatbelt as well as that harness. Because this happened before to another kid and in that instance the harness suddenly popped open and the mother of that child thought that surely after that these rides would always have secondary seatbelts as a secondary safety measure. Like having a double hull in a ship, there needs to be a âif the first parachute doesnât open thereâs a second oneâ approach to designing these rides. So I still also blame the design of the actual ride for only having a harness and no seatbelts, I mean this ride leans the seats forward at times so even the actual seat is not holding you in place only the harness is so there should of course be seatbelts always as well⌠The ride designers and the park itself should also take responsibility for this. Tyre should still be here.
The fact the fall was caught on camera, makes this all the more tragic.
I hope they sue the shit out of everyone who led to this babyâs death.
afraid of fat shaming I suppose. dumb dumb dumb.
how about a seat belt?
This comes down to multiple people not understanding physics. I wouldn't have ridden it if I was that big.
That poor boy…I can't even imagine his parents agony. đđťđđťđđť
Big people can't fit, let's just move the safety sensor so the greenlight comes on! Problem solved!
I saw the video of him falling , itâs on Reddit . It was pretty graphic
hey have to be adjusted to fit big people or they couldnât ride some ridesT g
Rides have to be adjusted for large people thatâs why it has adjustments on it or large people who wants to ride canât ride
I can remember going on rides I didn't quite fit on ( was too small but tall enough) and my brother would hold me in place while we rode. That was the solution back in the day.
Just horrible
I'll never forget that video
Some of these rides already scared me cuz you feel like you're gonna be slung out of them.
I remember one when I was younger did a loop, and hung you upside down. I was falling out of the restraints. And holding onto my brother for dear life. And it stayed upside down for so long. I was too small for it. Even my brother saw me slipping out and grabbed me back.. My hands were so sore by the time I got off that ride.
Then another ride that slings you left and right in a car.. I was riding with my kids and I had to hold onto them so tight, I could feel us both slipping out at each spin. The force was so strong.
Now I'm definitely gonna be scared of them.
I know that this child was so scared as would anyone would be. This ride is too high. They need to tear it down.
Someone needs to held accountable.
Wow, this makes you question wanting to ride those rides. Youâre putting your faith in someone else.
This is literally terrifying
Yeah this isn't surprising. Many of the people working the rides can't even legally drink yet. Many parks need to do better
Honestly that's the 2nd death that had happened in Orlando, That park is 100% gonna be closed if God sake another death happens.
I can't imagine how the person/persons who made the adjustments feels now. I would be devastated if it were me.
I think this bullshit. I dont think the operator adjusted it. I think the inspectors adjusted it just so they can drop this case.
Whey they always lying, that seat was made for bigger people đđ đđ¤Śđžââď¸đ§˘ my ass. Stop damn lying the kid is literally dead
We pass his memorial almost every weekend on the bikes, the whole pack stopped and gave him a farewell đ.
i remember my cousin got on a ride and she felt like she was too big for it. She was screaming stop the ride but was totally being ignored. Thankfully she was ok but she had some bruising because the harness was digging into her stomach really badly. She couldn't breath properly and she said she just felt like she wasn't secured because of her size. We told the owners and the guy who ignored her was fired.
Let's be honest. The main reason he fell was because he's really fat!
I think everyone involved should be convicted on some level, tyre
died under their watch because he put trust in these people to ensure that he was safe but in reality he wasnât. tyre deserves justice for this operation gone wrong. I hope his family gets justice as well that poor boy who fell to his death. I canât imagine what that feels like.
They should of check the seats
The hell with feelings , tell the young man you are too big for this ride
This ride is to skydiving dangerous for a 5min thrill ride not worth having it should be brought down and turned into scrap metal if reopened any employee running it can still make a simple mistake or mechanical problem that can causes a accident and more people get killed. Bring it down!!!
This video title is very misleading. It states the ride operator is at fault implying someone at the scene did something. However what they say is that someone make hardware adjustments that connect to a magnetic and electronic system to 2 of the seats prior to the teen riding it. Those adjustments sound like something a mechanic would do and not an operator.
What would have happened if they kicked him off from the ride? Probably would have been sued by the family because of discrimination of "larger" (read: hugely obese) people, and especially people of color.
Too Little. Too big. Too short. Too tall. There's always something. Danger should never be explored. It's always about the kids, but the kids are always a target of something it seems. It's a shame it takes DEATH to get the attention of, SAFETY issues.
They set that boy up for failure. Have him a false sense of security
I wonder what that settlement came out to be đ¤Ż
I'm from St. Louis and I'm surprised it took me now to know what happened. I wish I can give both his parents a hug.
If the boy's parents had fed him healthy food he would have not been so big.
Don't allow obese people to go on those rides, and it wouldn't have happened.
Everyone that saw him should be responsible regardless of friends or just a operator
The video of him falling is horrendous ….
That is very dangerous to put a manual adjustment in the free fall tower
Little kids working there. Little kids that should be working at McDonaldâs. They shouldnât have this much responsibility. Pay more and hire mature adults or this will happen again
So my question as an experienced mechanic is now? Why does the plate where the sensor sits have long holes?
With a fixed hole pattern adjustment of the sensor to a dangerous level wouldnt have been possible also if the adjustment bolt would just loose over time by itself which can happen you wouldnt have the danger of the sensor detecting false values