A year after the death of 14-year-old Tyre Sampson on a Florida thrill ride, the boy's family continued its push for new legislation.
"No other child should have to die from an amusement park ride, period," Tyre's father Yarnell Sampson said a remembrance Friday at the Orlando site where the ride once stood. "This same thing happened in 1999 in California. If we would've paid attention to that situation, we might not have this story now."
Tyre fell to his death March 24, 2022 on the FreeFall ride at Orlando's ICON Park. The 400-foot-tall ride had been closed since then and was dismantled earlier this month. Tyre's mother, Nekia Dodd, was on hand to watch construction crews take it apart.
"I hate it had to come down under these circumstances," Dodd said. "It's a bittersweet moment, you know, the ride's coming down. I'm thankful for that. But my son's not coming back."
An investigation showed the teen's seat was not properly secured and his weight, 383 pounds, was nearly 100 pounds over the ride's weight limit. Tyre's family wants laws passed that would tighten regulations and require the state of Florida to sign off on rides before they open.
"We vow to continue to fight to make sure the Tyre Sampson law becomes law," said Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney representing the family.
Sampson's family is suing the manufacturer of the ride and the owner-operator, Slingshot Group. Slingshot agreed to pay a $250,000 fine to the state. Sampson's family also reached an undisclosed settlement with the amusement park. The money will go, in part, to providing scholarship opportunities in Sampson's memory.
