Father of Florida teen who died in amusement park ride horror speaks out
The father of a 14-year-old who tragically fell to his death from an Orlando amusement park ride on Thursday is speaking out.
As more people show up to pay their respects to the Missouri teen who died after falling from a ride at Orlando's ICON Park, the number of signatures on a petition to shut the ride down for good continues to grow.
"My cousin lost his life over this ride. I don’t feel like it was safe. I feel like it needs to be shut down before someone else’s family has to go through what we are going through," 14-year-old Tyre Sampson's cousin told FOX 35 Orlando.
Tyree Sampson (FOX 35 Orlando)
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Investigators continue to examine what happened Thursday night when Sampson dropped out of his seat from a 430-foot, 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 not far from Disney World.
Lawyers for his family want to know if negligence about his size, or other factors, played a role.
Amusement park visitors were in shock after seeing a teenage boy die after falling off of one of the park's rides. (Fox 35)
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"This young man, he was athletic, and he was big. He had no way of knowing," said Bob Hilliard, a Texas attorney who represents Tyre’s mother, Nekia Dodd, in an interview Saturday. "This is going to be an issue of a lack of supervision and lack of training. A straight-up negligence case."
Tyre was part of a group called the St. Louis Bad Boyz football club who were in Orlando for a week-long training camp, the Post-Dispatch reported. The group had chaperones and, by all accounts, were doing what millions do every year during spring break in Orlando: enjoying the theme parks and rides.
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Teen dies after fall from drop tower ride at Orlando's ICON PARK, authorities say (FOX 35)
A community balloon release is set to take place at 6 p.m. Monday night in front of the ride.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
