*The parents of a 14-Year-Old boy who fell to his death from a 430-foot-tall ride at a Florida amusement park reached a settlement between the park and the company that owns the ride.
Tyre Sampson suffered a fatal fall from the Orlando Free Fall at ICON Park on March 24, 2022. The tragic incident was filmed and shared on social media. Sampson’s father said he learned of his son’s death online. The clip shows Tyre slipping out of the harness on the ride and hitting the ground.
“It felt like somebody hit me so hard in my stomach. I just lost, I lost, lost wind. And the pain behind it could never be taken away, and sorry’s not gonna take it back and no monies, no nothing in the world to replace the young man. And it’s just sad, a young man’s bright future was taken away from him over a ride, an amusement park,” Yarnell Sampson previously said in an interview with WESH 2.
An accident report released said Tyre came out of his seat while riding the attraction and that his “harness was still in a down and locked position when the ride stopped.”
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The boy’s parents took legal action against ICON Park, the SlingShot Group (which owns the ride), ride manufacturer Fun Time Thrill Rides, and Gerstlauer Amusement Rides, which manufactured the seats and harnesses, per PEOPLE.
The ride is now being demolished and the boy’s mother, Nekia Dodd, visited the park amid the tearing-down process.
“My son took his last breath on this ride, so it’s heartbreaking, it’s devastating, it’s a feeling I hope no other parent will ever have to go through after this ride comes down,” Dodd said in a press conference streamed by Fox 35. “When he passed, I wasn’t there for him.”
Dodd and Yarnell filed a wrongful death lawsuit after their son’s death and the mother revealed during Wednesday’s press conference that an undisclosed settlement has been reached.
“While the FreeFall ride is not owned and was not controlled or operated by ICON Park, because it is a tenant on the property, we agree with the owner’s decision to dismantle the ride, and our hearts are with the family as they witness this important milestone,” ICON Park shared in a statement to Fox 35.
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