ST. LOUIS (KMOX) -- The mother of an area teenager killed on a Florida amusement park ride is speaking out as she files a wrongful death lawsuit.
Nekia Dodd says her 14-year-old son Tyre Sampson would still be alive if they had just warned him he was too big for the ride he slipped out of.
"I have every emotion that you possibly could feel," she says. "Angry, frustrated, mad, sickened, because there should've been better signage out."
Family attorney Michael Haggard says there were no signs to warn of the weight limits and no scales to stand on before getting on the Orlando "Freefall" ride. But the 380 pound vicitm had already been told that day he was too big for other rides. Should he have known better?
"If a defense lawyer says that during this jury trial, I can guarantee you, this will be the largest jury verdict in the history of the state of Florida," Haggard says. "If they want to blame Tyre Sampson, that would be a dream for a plaintiff's lawyer such as myself."
Haggard also alleges a $22 seat belt, if one had been employed as a secondary restraint as on similar rides around the country, would've prevented the death "very simply."
The suit further claims the ride had been modified by someone to allow oversized people to ride. The victim was 6' 2" and weighed 380 pounds.
Sampson's mother Dodd only wants one thing out of the tragedy.
"They can take the ride down completely. Just get rid of it altogether," she says.
