On March 24, 2022, 14-year-old Tyre Sampson fell to his death at ICON Park Orlando, Florida. The park’ fame in upper Florida comes from their ride called the FreeFall, a 430-foot tall ride that takes up to 30 people and drops them down the 430 feet swiftly. 

On the way up, the roller coaster slowly turns the passengers before waiting a couple of moments until the fast drop straight down. On the way down, the ride can reach up to 75 or 80 miles per hour depending on the number of people on it. There are many possibilities for something to go wrong, but Sampson’s incident was one of the biggest problems that ICON Park has to face. 

During Sampson’s turn on the ride, a video was recorded, showing the entire incident on a play-by-play. After watching the clip, most of the passengers questioned why there were no seatbelts, and how the only thing holding them in was a plastic chest holder. 

When young Sampson got on the ride, his father, Yarnell Sampson, could never have assumed that this would be the moment his son would pass. Sources say it’s the roller coaster’s engineering malfunctioning. In addition, have been saying he was too big and too tall for the ride and shouldn’t have been let ride anyway.

 Sampson weighed approximately 325 pounds and was six feet when the ride’s weight limit was 287 pounds. We lost a young life over coworkers not checking whether or not the attraction would be able to hold his genetic makeup.

Dior Moore, Sampson’s family friend riding with him, said that when they reached the top of the ride, he was freaking out and said, “ If anything happens to me tell my mommy and dad I love them.” On his way down, Sampson started to slip out before falling out once the ride came to a stop at about 40 feet from the ground. People were yelling and screaming to call 911, and other passengers were also crying to get them out. 

His family and friends are devastated and are holding a funeral for him. Prayers in our hearts to the family.