Tyre Sampson
A teen boy tragically died after falling from a ride at Orlando’s ICON Park last Thursday night as his parents watched in horror.
14-year-old Tyre Sampson was transported to the hospital after falling out of the Free Fall ride, which is the world’s tallest freestanding tower at 430 feet, Fox 35 Orlando reported.
At first it was believed the boy’s harness wasn’t properly secured, however, officials are now saying the harness was still locked after the ride came to a stop.
The teen boy, a football player who reportedly weighed well over 300 pounds, slipped out of his seat and plunged to his death.
It is now being reported that Tyre Sampson was denied entry to two other rides because of his weight.
According to Sampson’s cousin, the teen walked over to the FreeFall ride after he was denied entrance from the “SlingShot” and “Orlando StarFlyer” because of his size.
Fox News reported:
The cousin of the 14-year-old who died after falling off of a ride at an Orlando, Florida amusement park says that the teenager was denied entrance to two of the other rides because of his weight.
Tyre Sampson, 14, died after falling off of the Orlando FreeFall ride at ICON Park on March 24. The ride is 430-feet-tall, according to the attraction.
Sampson’s cousin, Shay Johnson, told Spectrum News 13 at a candlelight vigil on Monday that the teenager was stopped from riding two other rides in the amusement park because of his weight.
“[Tyre] said ‘I want to get on the swing on International,’ I said ‘Okay, ride it twice and ride it for me, too.’ And he called me back about seven minutes later, he said, ‘They said I’m too big, I can’t ride,” Johnson said.
Johnson also said that Sampson was denied entrance from the Orlando SlingShot, which ICON Park demanded that the SlingShot group stop operating until it’s proven to be safe.
“So I said go try another one,” Johnson said. “That’s when he came to try the SlingShot, and they told him he was too big for that. So he said, ‘Well, cousin, there’s another ride, I’m going to try that.”
The ride Tyre was referring to was the Orlando FreeFall.