A safety expert said that the death of Tyre Sampson at an amusement park in Orlando, Florida, was “criminal” and suggested that someone needs to be held responsible for his death after an investigation found the ride he fell from had been manually adjusted in a way that made it unsafe.
“I’m sorry. With all these circumstances, all these incidents that occurred, it’s criminal. Somebody killed Mr. Tyre Sampson,” amusement park ride safety analyst and consultant Ken Martin told Fox News. Martin further suggested that a grand jury should be formed to investigate the incident, saying that someone should be charged for their involvement in Sampson’s death.
Sampson died in March while riding the Orlando FreeFall drop tower ride at ICON Park after he slipped out of his seat and fell at least a hundred feet as the ride was beginning its descent. A picture that circulated on social media sites at the time showed that Sampson was seated with the crossbar over his chest but not secured in his seat with a safety harness designed to lock riders in.
Martin told Fox News that the ride operator should have noticed that the safety harness was not properly secured.
“Once Mr. Sampson got on the ride, the ride operator should have come around, attempted to pull the shoulder harness over him and lock it,” he said. “We all saw that. We know that the shoulder restraint did not come down where it was supposed to be and that, you know, is an issue.”
Martin added that “multiple causes” led to Sampson’s death.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services released a report last week that found someone had manually adjusted the ride, making it unsafe. The report found no evidence of physical or mechanical failure but found that the seat Sampson was sitting in had a visibly wider opening than the other seats. Measurements recorded by investigators showed that most seats had a gap of about 3 inches between the harness and the seat horn, while Sampson’s seat had a gap of about 7 inches. The safety sensors on Sampson’s seat had also been moved. Investigators found the safety sensors had been shifted manually, indicating the seat was secured correctly when it was not.
Furthermore, resistance tests showed that the harness could be forced open by about three inches when pushed with about 250 pounds of force. With these shifts, investigators found that two individuals who measured between 6’3″ and 6’5″ and weighed between 200 and 300 pounds could easily slip through the seat openings. Fox News reported that Sampson was about 6’5 and weighed about 360 pounds.
“These misadjustments allowed the safety lights to illuminate, improperly satisfying the ride’s electronic safety mechanisms that allowed the ride to operate even though Mr. Sampson was not properly secured in the seat,” Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Nikki Fried said at a press conference last week, adding that the drop tower would remain closed indefinitely.
Fox 35 Orlando reported Monday that Sampson’s family was filing a wrongful death civil lawsuit in Florida state court, alleging that multiple businesses were liable or negligent in his death. The family had previously hired the law firms of high-profile lawyers Benjamin Crump and Bob Hilliard to represent them.