The parents of a 14-year-old Missouri teen and a thrill ride operator and manufacturer in Florida have reached a settlement in a wrongful death case in which the parents’ son fell to his death while riding the Orlando Free Fall, billed as the world’s tallest free-standing drop tower.
Background
Michael S. Carroll, PhD, a Full Professor of Sport Management at Troy University, summarized the incident leading up to the litigation for Sports Litigation Alert as follows: “In March of 2022, Tyre Sampson, who was visiting Orlando from Missouri with friends, rode the Orlando Free Fall attraction, a thrill ride in which riders sit in a seat and are raised hundred of feet into the air. At the top of the ride, it tilts forward 30 degrees and free falls several hundred feet at speeds exceeding 75 miles per hour, coming to a slow stop. The ride contains a harness that goes over riders’ shoulders in order to secure them during the ride, but it does not attach between the legs like other harnesses on such amusement rides. Sampson, an avid football player, stood at approximately 6’2 and weighed approximately 380 pounds. The ride listed no height or weight restrictions at the ticket counter, and no employees advised Sampson as to any such restrictions. However, the owner’s manual for the tower lists the ride’s weight limit at 287 pounds, close to 100 pounds less that Sampson. Icon Park manages two other thrill rides adjacent to the Free Fall, a rotating swing that goes high into the air and a slingshot that propels a 2-rider cage from the ground into the air at a high rate of speed. Sampson had attempted to go on each of those attractions but was told that he was too large. He then went to the Free Fall Ride and was allowed on. During the drop phase of the ride, Sampson was ejected from his seat, falling at least 100 feet to his death. The incident was captured via surveillance video and cell phone images. Following the incident, Icon Park and its owners, Slingshot Group, shut down the ride for investigation.”
The Settlement
“Nothing can ever bring back Tyre to his family, but this settlement speaks to putting entertainment entities on notice that they cannot cut corners in the operations that sacrifice safely,” according to a statement from Ben Crump of Ben Crump Law and Bob Hilliard of Hilliard Martinez Gonzales, who represented the parents. “When these companies are irresponsible, it puts innocent lives at risk.”
Another Defendant
Meanwhile, another defendant, Gerslauer Amusement Rides, which denies liability for the seats and safety harnesses on the ride, has not settled. It has filed a motion to dismiss in Florida state court. In its motion, it argued that what it “sold to Funtime are separate, unassembled and non-operating component parts for seat assemblies and over-the-shoulder restraint bars.” Further, it maintains that it “has no involvement or participation in the assembly, incorporation and/or installation of the over-the-shoulder restraint bars into the seat assemblies, nor their final specific location, function and operation in the finished amusement park ride.”
