Teen who fell to his death at Florida amusement park exceeded ride's weight limit and died of blunt force trauma, autopsy says

Authored by edition.cnn.com and submitted by joecam
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(CNN) The 14-year-old boy who fell to his death at a Florida amusement park earlier this year exceeded the ride's weight limit by nearly 100 pounds, according to an autopsy report obtained by CNN.

Tyre Sampson died March 24 while visiting ICON Park outside Orlando with family friends. He was a passenger on the Orlando FreeFall drop tower ride , which operators describe as the world's tallest freestanding drop tower. It sends passengers up and then drops them nearly 400 feet at speeds reaching more than 75 mph, according to the park.

The owner's manual for the tower lists the ride's weight limit at 287 pounds. Tyre was just over 6 feet tall and weighed 383 pounds, the autopsy report said.

The autopsy also ruled Tyre's cause of death was blunt force trauma, resulting in multiple fractures, lacerations and haemorrhaging to his head, neck and extremities. His manner of death was an accident, the report said.

In April, a forensic engineering firm -- Quest Engineering & Failure Analysis Inc. -- hired by state officials to investigate Tyre's death found that manual adjustments had been made to two seats on the drop tower ride, including the seat occupied by Tyre. This adjustment allowed for a greater gap than normal between the harness and the seat, the report by the firm said.

DoctorInteresting80 on June 14th, 2022 at 23:09 UTC »

I worked at an amusement park. The safety features on most rides are insane to say the least.

The ride I worked on had scales in the queue for riders before they loaded. We got a red light above a queue if it would be too heavy. We had light indicators for seat bars being pushed down enough. The ride wouldn’t even let us launch it if anything was off.

That video is horrific, but either the manufacturer or park is at fault.

joecam on June 14th, 2022 at 20:23 UTC »

Tyre Sampson, 14, of Missouri, was found to be 96lbs over the weight limit for the FreeFall ride at Florida ICON park, according to the autopsy report The 430-foot ride's weight limit capped out at 287lbs, while the teen weighed 383lbs The medical examiner also found that the teen suffered from internal injuries to his head, neck, and torso His death was ultimately ruled an accident by the Orange County Medical Examiner's Office Sampson's family is suing Orlando Slingshot - the ride's owner - manufacturer and landlord, saying they were negligent and failed to provide a safe ride The sensors on Sampson's seat were reportedly manually altered to fit his size, resulting in him not being properly secured His friends also said the teen had been turned from rides due to his weight

Hrekires on June 14th, 2022 at 20:05 UTC »

He exceeded it by 100 pounds... how did the ride operator let him get on it? This

Quest Engineering & Failure Analysis Inc. -- hired by state officials to investigate Tyre's death found that manual adjustments had been made to two seats on the drop tower ride, including the seat occupied by Tyre. This adjustment allowed for a greater gap than normal between the harness and the seat

Makes it sound like the company is probably fucked in the lawsuit.