Nearly five months after Tyre Sampton fell to his death while riding a 430-foot drop tower ride, Florida officials are ushering in a new law to help ensure that such a tragedy never happens again.
Earlier this week, on what would have been the teen’s 15th birthday, Florida State Rep. Geraldine Thompson revealed that she will soon introduce the “Tyre Sampson Law” in an effort to improve the safety of amusement park rides.
Florida lawmakers will pass a bill honoring a teenager who died after falling out of an amusement park ride earlier in the year. https://t.co/Np5vw79LFW
— Atlanta Black Star (@ATLBlackStar) August 19, 2022
Thompson noted that the proposed law would help ensure that operators cannot alter the rides’ safety settings. An investigation by Quest Engineering and Failure Analysis, Inc. found that “Tyre Sampson was not properly secured in the seat primarily due to misadjustment of the harness proximity sensors,” according to Syracuse.
“The things that happened here were out of the ordinary,” Thompson said, Fox News reports. “Seats being adjusted after inspection after a permit — that was out of the ordinary. It was out of the ordinary that the young people who were operating the ride had not been properly trained; that was out of the ordinary. It was out of the ordinary that the signs with regard to height and weight requirements were not posted so that Tyre could make his own decision — that was out of the ordinary.”
As Blavity reported, Tyre Sampson slipped out of his safety harness while visiting the Orlando, Florida, amusement part over spring break. An autopsy revealed that he was about 100 lbs. over the weight limit, and operator error was the cause of the tragedy.
Now, Tyre’s parents, Yarnell Sampson and Nekia Dodd, are working on getting the ride shut down, supporting lawmakers to help ensure that no other family has to go through such a tragedy.
“I’m trying to give the proper respect to the dead. He deserved that because he didn’t sign up to die. He signed up to ride a ride and have fun and it led up to something else,” Tyre’s father said according to Fox News.
“That was my only child. That was my everything,” the bereaved father continued, noting that he’s “totally invested in this situation.”
If the bill is passed into law, it will go into effect on July 1, 2023.
