Orlando, Fla. — In a significant court ruling, the parents of Tyre Sampson, a 14-year-old who tragically died after falling from a towering drop ride in Orlando’s tourist district, were awarded over $300 million on Thursday. The compensation marks a pivotal moment in the debate over amusement ride safety standards and manufacturer accountability.
On a spring break visit to ICON Park in March 2022, Sampson, from St. Louis, met with a fatal accident when he slipped through the restraints of the 430-foot-tall FreeFall ride. The unexpected event led to a national dialogue on the safety measures necessary in amusement parks.
Initially, Sampson’s family filed lawsuits against various entities related to the ownership and operation of the ride. Although some of these cases were settled last year, Thursday’s judgment specifically targeted Funtime, the Austrian company that manufactured the ride. Funtime, having opted against a settlement, faced the full brunt of the lawsuit.
The park where the incident occurred, ICON Park, was not implicated in the day’s proceedings as it neither owned nor operated the now-dismantled ride.
As the judicial decision was announced around 5 p.m. Thursday, Sampson’s mother, Nekia Dodd, and father, Yarnell Sampson, were each awarded $155 million. Allegations during the trial highlighted a critical oversight in safety protocols, notably that there were no explicit weight or height restrictions posted for the ride. It was disclosed that Sampson’s weight at the time exceeded the ride’s maximum limit of 287 pounds.
Investigations into the accident uncovered that the FreeFall ride was equipped only with an overhead restraint system. Standard safety features like an overhead harness and seatbelt, typical in most drop rides, were absent, contributing to the tragedy.
Furthermore, the lawsuit revealed that the additional cost to install seatbelts on the ride would have been about $22 per seat, totaling a mere $660 – a small investment relative to the ride’s overall operation and maintenance costs. A subsequent report in April 2022 indicated adjustments had been made to the seat configurations on the ride to accommodate larger individuals, though these came too late for Sampson.
The ride in question, FreeFall, was taken apart in 2023 as part of the aftermath and ongoing safety concerns post-incident.
This case has brought to light the significant discrepancies in safety measures applied across similar amusement rides and highlights the need for rigorous and uniform safety standards that protect all participants, regardless of their size.
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