Missouri teen falls to death from Florida amusement park ride
(AP) — A 14-year-old boy from Missouri fell to his death late at night from a free-fall amusement park ride that is taller than the Statue of Liberty along a busy street in the heart of Orlando’s tourist district.
Sheriff’s officials and emergency crews responded to a call late Thursday at Icon Park, which is located in the city’s tourist district along International Drive. The boy fell from the Orlando Free Fall ride, which opened late last year.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina on Friday identified the teen as Tyre Sampson, who was visiting central Florida from the St. Louis area with a friend’s family. Detectives investigating the death will look into whether it was intentional or accidental, the sheriff said.
“It appears to be just a terrible tragedy,” Mina said. “We will see moving forward what that results in.”
Sampson was taken to a hospital, where he died, sheriff’s officials said. No additional details about the teen or the incident were immediately released.
A video aired by NBC’s “Today” show Friday morning appears to show passengers on the ride discussing issues with a seat restraint Thursday night. The ride then began its trek up the tower before someone is later seen falling from the ride.
We are absolutely saddened and devastated by what happened, and our hearts go out to this young man’s family,” John Stine, sales director with the Slingshot Group which owns the ride, told The Associated Press on Friday morning.
The Free Fall ride and an adjacent ride, the Sling Shot, have been closed indefinitely, Stine said. His company operates the two rides at Icon Park.
“We are cooperating with all other investigations at this time to get to the bottom of what happened,” Stine said.
Stine said there had been no issues reported previously with the Free Fall ride, which opened over the holidays.
Employees and witnesses who were interviewed by detectives told them that everything appeared to be normal.
“Everything seemed to be OK and normal,” Mina said.
The Florida Department of Agriculture, which oversees amusement ride inspections with the exception of the state’s largest theme parks, has launched an investigation and inspectors were at the site Friday, spokesperson Caroline Stoneciper said in an email.
The ride stands 430-feet tall, and is billed as the world’s tallest free-standing drop tower, according to the park’s website.
The ride holds 30 passengers as it rises in the air, rotates around the tower and then tilts to face the ground before free falling at more than 75 mph, the website said.
The ride has over-the shoulder restraint harnesses, with two hand grips at the chest level, that riders pull down and then they are released automatically at the end of the ride.
In 2021, a maintenance technician who was not properly hooked up to a safety device plunged 225 feet to his death at a neighboring ride at the park, the 450-foot-tall StarFlyer swing ride.