Harrowing moment before Tyre Sampson, 14, plunged to death on amusement park ride

Disturbing footage captured moments before a 14-year-old boy plunged to his death from an amusement park ride has raised an unthinkable question.

Disturbing footage captured moments before a 14-year-old boy plunged to his death from an amusement park ride has raised an unthinkable question — was his harness unbuckled before the ride began?

The teen, identified by police as Tyre Sampson, fell 50m from the Orlando Free-Fall ride at ICON Park in Orlando, Florida on Thursday night.

In a disturbing video of the tragic incident taken by a bystander and shared on social media, one of the ride’s operators could be heard talking with a group strapped in for the ride.

“Y’all ever been on this before? You know how high you’re going? 430 feet. You’re coming down 75 miles per hour,” the ride operator told the group.

“Why doesn’t this have the little clip to it, like the seatbelt?” one woman asked him.

“You talking about a seat belt?” he replied.

As the ride begins, an operator appeared to joke: “Have you checked your seat belt? On the left side. Seat belt?”

Other images show Tyre with two friends on the ride before it begins. The other two appear to have their harnesses pulled down lower and buckled into their seats.

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Tyre Sampson, right, died after he plunged from a ride at a Florida amusement park on Thursday night. Pictures appear to show his harness is higher than those next to him.

Tyre was visiting ICON Park with his family when the fatal incident occurred.

The footage then shows Sampson — who was visiting from Missouri with a friend’s family — fall from his seat when the ride was about halfway down its 122-metre descent.

Horrified witnesses and those still on the ride can be heard screaming after the ride came to a stop, while the teen’s motionless body lay at their feet.

“Oh my God!” screamed one woman. “Oh my God! He just fell! Oh my God!”

Another frenzied woman can be seen asking staffers if they had secured the boy’s safety harness before the ride, repeatedly asking, “Are you sure you checked him?”

Other workers can be seen covering their mouths in paralysed disbelief while bystanders hurried their traumatised kids away from the scene.

Meanwhile, riders can be heard yelling at workers to unlock their harnesses.

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 can be heard saying on the call.

“It was the biggest smack I ever heard in my life. I seen him hit the ground.”

The Orlando Free Fall opened in December 2021 and claims to be the tallest freestanding drop tower. Picture: Fox 35

Witnesses said the boy’s parents were looking on. Picture: Fox 35

Another man told a 911 dispatcher that the teen had no pulse, while a woman said Sampson wasn’t responsive and appeared to have broken his arms and legs.

Orange County sheriff’s officials said Sampson was taken to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children where he died from his injuries.

Sampson’s uncle, Carl Sampson, told NBC the teen “was a really good kid. Really respectable … He had a bright future ahead. He was very intelligent.”

“It’s hard to believe. He was just 14 years old. It was very tragic that it happened. He was too young,” he said, adding that the boy’s parents, who reportedly witnessed the accident, were not doing well.

The Orlando Free-Fall opened in December 2021 and claims to be America’s tallest freestanding drop tower, standing at 131 metres tall and holding up to 30 people.

The ride spins around a gigantic tower after it reaches peak level in the air. Riders are positioned forward with their faces at the ground — secured by over-the-shoulder restraint harnesses with two hand grips at chest level — before dropping at 120 kilometres per hour.

The harnesses are released automatically at the end of the ride.

Orange County Sheriff John Mina, who described the incident as what “appears to be just a terrible tragedy”, said that “everything seemed to be OK and normal” with the ride.

“Our prayers and thoughts are with the family. We can’t imagine what they’re going through,” he added.

A look at the restraints on the Orlando Free Fall ride. They pull over the rider - similar to a roller coaster (no seat belts). 2 workers do safety checks and make sure restraints are locked. A 14-year-old boy tragically died in the ride last night. @fox35orlandopic.twitter.com/UuvjadcCJq

— Ryan Elijah FOX 35 (@ryanelijah) March 25, 2022

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which oversees amusement ride inspections with the exception of the state‘s largest theme parks, has launched an investigation

John Stine, sales director with the Slingshot Group, which owns the ride, told The Associated Press the group were “co-operating with all other investigations at this time to get to the bottom of what happened”.

“We are absolutely saddened and devastated by what happened, and our hearts go out with this young man’s family,” he said, adding there had been no issues reported previously with the Free-Fall ride, which will be closed indefinitely.

In 2020, a 21-year-old technician died while performing maintenance on a different attraction at the amusement park, falling 18 metres to his death.

– with the New York Post