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A lawsuit is expected to be filed Monday on behalf of the family of 14-year-old Tyre Sampson, who fell to his death from the Orlando FreeFall ride last month, according to local media reports.
Fox 35 Orlando reported that a wrongful death lawsuit will be filed in Orange County, Florida, against several businesses, according to The Haggard Law Firm representing Samson’s mother, Nekia Dodd.
Dodd, represented by attorney Michael Haggard, is expected to speak publicly for the first time at a press conference scheduled for Tuesday morning in the family’s hometown of St. Louis, Missouri.
It was not immediately clear which businesses will be targeted in the lawsuit.
Tyre Sampson
(FOX 35 Orlando)
This comes after a Ken Martin, an amusement park ride safety analyst and consultant, recently told Fox News Digital he believes the incident is “criminal,” and says “somebody killed Mr. Tyre Sampson.”
Samson fell to his death from the Orlando FreeFall ride at ICON Park in Orlando, Florida, March 24. Harrowing video of the incident was shared widely on social media.
The ride is a vertical drop tower that carries riders about 400 feet into the air before briefly tilting and dropping them toward the ground before magnets engage to slow them down.
The Orlando Free Fall drop tower in ICON Park in Orlando, Florida, is pictured on March 28, 2022. Tyre Sampson, 14, was killed when he fell from the ride last week.
(Orlando Sentinel via Getty)
An operating manual for the Orlando FreeFall ride says the maximum passenger weight is just over 286 pounds. Sampson, who lived in Missouri, was 6 feet, 5 inches tall and reportedly weighed 360 pounds.
The forensic company Quest Engineering, hired by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to investigate the incident, released a report last week assessing that the ride operator made “manual adjustments” to the harness proximity sensor on two seats, including the one Samson was in.
Therefore, the ride falsely indicated Sampson was secured and that the ride was safe to operate.
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At a press conference, Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Nikki Fried said those changes allowed the ride restraint to be more than double of what it was supposed to be. The average gap is supposed to be three inches, but Sampson’s seat had a gap of nearly seven inches.
The report also assessed the ride did not experience a mechanical or electrical failure.
Fox News’ Adam Sabes contributed to this report.
