A 14-year-old boy fell to his death late at night from a free-fall amusement park ride that is taller than the Statue of Liberty along a busy street in the heart of Orlando’s tourist district.
Sheriff’s officials and emergency crews responded to a call late Thursday at the Orlando Free Fall ride, which opened late last year at Icon Park on the city’s International Drive.
The teen was identified Friday as Tyre Sampson, who was visiting central Florida from Missouri with a friend’s family. Detectives investigating the death will look into whether it was intentional or accidental, said Orange County Sheriff John Mina. “It appears to be just a terrible tragedy,” Mina said. “We will see moving forward what that results in.” Read more: Canada’s amusement parks: how ride safety stacks up Sampson was taken to a hospital, where he died, sheriff’s officials said.
No additional details about the teen or the incident were immediately released. A man who witnessed what happened told a 911 dispatcher that Sampson seemed to slip out of his seat when the ride braked as it approached the bottom. “Bam, went straight through his chair and dropped,” the man said on the 911 call. “It was the biggest smack I ever heard in my life.