Jury awards $310 million to parents of teen killed in Orlando amusement park ride fall
Representative image of a ride in an amusement park
A jury in the US state of Florida has awarded $310 million to the parents of a 14-year-old boy who tragically fell from an Orlando FreeFall ride in March of 2022 and died. The jury decided that the Austrian manufacturer of the ride, Funtime, was accountable with an implication that the boy was not properly safeguarded.
Jury’s decision
On Thursday (Dec 5) an Orange County jury decision ruled that Funtime has to pay $155 million to each of Tyre Sampson's parents – Nekia Dodd and Yarnell Sampson. However, the manufacturer did not show up on the court during the one-day trial.
Ben Crump and Natalie Jackson, the family's attorneys, were very quick to praise the verdict.
“This decision confirms what we have long argued: Tyre’s death was the result of negligence, a failure to prioritise safety over profits,” they said in a statement. “The manufacturers neglected their duty to protect passengers, and now they must face the consequences.”
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The horrific incident
Tyre Sampson was a 6-foot-2-inch, 380-pound teenager from the US state of Missouri. He had travelled to ICON Park with his friends during spring break when the tragedy struck. The 14-year-old fell off the Orlando FreeFall, one of the tallest rides in the world, which drops passengers from a height of 430 feet.
Because of Tyre’s size, the shoulder harness could not pin him down adequately and ejected him when the ride braked at 70 feet from the ground. This particular ride did not have seat belts and was shut down by authorities after the incident and later demolished.
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Safety measures
In the wake of this incident, Tyre's parents alleged that the ride did not have proper safety systems in place, especially for larger passengers. They argued that adding seat belts – which is commonplace on similar rides – would have cost just $660 to install. The absence of this basic safety feature on the ride has become one of the key focuses in the case.
“We can’t bring Tyre back, but we can make sure this never happens to anyone else,” Tyre’s mother, Nekia Dodd, said following the verdict.
The legal battle
While ICON Park had previously settled with the family for an undisclosed sum, the Sampsons now face the challenge of collecting the damages above that from Funtime. Since the company is Austrian-based, the family will have to take them to court in Europe to access the sum awarded.
Tyre's unfortunate demise has sparked a wider discussionabout safety measures in amusement parks, especially concerning larger or taller riders.
(With inputs from agencies)