State Senator looking to take action to make amusement rides safer

Florida State Senator Linda Stewart is keeping a close eye on the investigation into how 14-year-old Tyre Sampson fell to his death from Orlando FreeFall, the drop tower amusement ride at ICON Park. 

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[brandycamire]

Not posting signs for weight requirement, and not having additional safety precautions such as safety belts because they didn't feel the need is just wrong, and shows they have no care for people's lives, only filling their pockets. It's just sick!

[justrandomthings]

That poor boy did not need to go out like that. I can't imagine the horror in his mind as he was falling to his death. It's a terrible way to go.

[phillbr]

It's very easy. Put scales in all the seats and make the harness click into place only at a lower angle, otherwise the ride doesn't move. Don't leave safety protocol up to teenagers (the operators), build it into the machines. I feel for the family, nobody should ever have to lose a child.

[Edwardsjm]

He was too big, gross negligence. Falls on the park and the ride operators. NO WEIGHT LIMIT POSTED. The ride operators at the 2 attractions he was not allowed to ride on did their jobs correctly. Free Fall operators did not. They took the situation for granted, casually saw the light was green and sent them up.

[buckfozos]

He can't have been the only one over the weight limit to ride this thing previously. Enforcement of that limit is the sole issue here. The hour was late (meaning the operators were tired and the repetition of successful rides seen for hours can lessen the feeling of potential danger, psychologically), he was with friends (who may not have been the same size, I haven't heard, but it could create a situation where the ride operator is reluctant to call out one guy as too heavy for the ride among his friends), weight limit not posted...all of it added up to a lax moment resulting in disastrous consequences. Enforce the weight limit strictly and let the other checks already in place do their job which they had done up to this moment. Bless you Tyre, I hope much good can come of your sacrifice.

[Shag]

It’s not all a weight issue, it’s a size issue. Weight and size are not the same thing.

I’ve worked at two different attractions that use the same kind of shoulder restraints as this ride. But we have test seats outside of the attraction that have indicators that will only light up when the restraint is lowered to a safe position. Some large guests have no issue with the test seat because their bodies are able to be pushed enough to get the restraint down. But other times we’ve denied smaller people to ride because of large arm muscles, chest or thicker legs. A test seat with proper indicators that is manned by an employee is the best way to go. If a scale is needed then a large one could be built into the queue of the ride just before the turnstile.

[HumanStateOfEmergency]

I don't think it's that hard to figure out what happened. The OTSR was not closed enough to not leave enough room for him not fall out. The seat tilted forward, causing him to start slipping our just enough for the force of the brakes to push him out.

[thelitthomasfamily]

Cars Go 60+ MPH And Require A Seat Belt And Buckle. Rides That Go That Speed Should Have A Harness And Buckle. JMO. Hoping That The Family And Friends Are Able To Cope With The Good Memories Of Tyre.. Extremely Sad To See A Young Innocent Life So Tragically Taken.

[bestkickz]

There’s a lot of ignorance being spread and it’s bothering me

[Aaronthinfantry]

Maybe not have 2 kids with 5 weeks experience operating the ride

[JW-qzjl]

I’m kind of like the lady, you can carry your weight differently, the max weight is 285, but there are people who weight under that but it’s all up top wear maybe they shouldn’t ride either

[villegasni]

Ppl need to stop trying to change laws when accidents happen. Stop making decisions on an emotional moment.

[afteryou]

If the damn thing don’t clasp all the way, don’t get on it. Also, get some workers who aren’t afraid to hurt feeling bc it would save a life. Had I seen this kid and the chair wasn’t closing, I’d be like, sorry baby, this thing ain’t closing so you’re gone have to wait for your friends till they done or y’all can all get off.

[chazzstorie]

After seeing the video, it looks like he slipped out from under the restraint. Others have said the restraint was open. I didn’t see that. A tragedy all around.

[esciteach]

FLORIDA HAS NO LAWS and no penalties. Period. The Department of pigs, cows and chickens oversees rides - - I am not kidding.

[mariavasquez]

Absolutely 💯 people must be weight and height check its insane not to look what happened here ....also second belt needs to be added these two rules plus the operator needs to go walk around and try in lift the bars to make sure it's a 100 percent closed ....

[KevinSmith-fwtb]

They should test the ride with a test dummy of the same size and weight as the kid with the harness locked at the same point! I'd bet it'd fall out.

[stephaniewoodhouse]

All I can think about is what was going through his mind in that split moment. This has had me so sick to my stomach. I pray they get to the bottom of it. I’ll never let my children on these rides.

[XzTON-zX]

If anyone saw the whole original video you can see the worker trying to flirt with the girl on the right side of the vide the entire time instead of actually checking.

[lilymae]

They should look into creating seats for overweight people. They also need more seatbealts!! If skydivers have to have a backup so should rides. Teens and young adults should not be operating these rides. They should have people trained months in advance before operating rides with humans on them. They should have people check three times each before starting the ride.