Teen killed in fall from Florida theme park ride was in seat with faulty safety sensors

The teenage boy who fell to his death at a Florida theme park on 24 March was sitting in a seat where safety sensors had been modified, a report has revealed.

Tyre Sampson, 14, was out with a friend and his family at Florida’s Icon Park and the group rode on the Free Fall. On Monday, investigators found that Sampson fell from the ride feet first, sliding over the seat horn and plummeting to the ground.

A new report from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) revealed that the operator of the Orlando drop tower allegedly made manual adjustments to the ride, resulting in it being unsafe, FDACS Commissioner Nikki Fried said at a press conference Monday.

“This report confirmed our department’s finding that the operator of the Orlando drop tower made manual adjustments to the ride, resulting in it being unsafe.” He added that the adjustment “allowed the harness restraint opening to be almost double that of the normal restraint opening range.”

Ms Fried said that “these misadjustments allowed the safety lights to illuminate and properly satisfy the ride’s electronic safety mechanism that allowed the ride to operate even though Mr Samson was not properly secured in his seat.”

The FDACS commissioner is still probing the case and said that there could have been other factors that contributed to the teen’s death.

“Given these outstanding concerns, the drop tower will remain closed indefinitely,” Ms Fried said.

The report mentioned that the seat had been adjusted to enable a gap of 6-7 inches wide and still register as being fastened securely, despite all other seats having a gap of only 3.33 inches.

However, the report didn’t mention whether Samson — a 6-foot-5-inch tall teenager — should have been allowed on the ride in the first place.

Samson’s family has also said that the teen weighed over 300 pounds and that he was turned away from other rides at the park due to safety concerns stemming from his size.

A manual for the site says: “Be careful when seeing if large guests fit into the seats. Check that they fit within the contours of the seat and the bracket fits properly. If this is not so — Do not let this person ride.”

The family is contemplating legal action against the theme park. Attorney Ben Crump had said “other than George Floyd’s tragic torture video, I think this is the worst tragedy captured on video that I’ve ever seen.”

He said that Samson’s death was “completely preventable” adding that “we are doing a thorough investigation into the tragic killing of this 14-year-old child who should have never been killed.”