Orlando Florida is still reeling after a 14 year old died at ICON Park due to falling from the Free-Fall Ride. Since the news broke there have been many updates about the ongoing investigation, which seem to indicate it was a very preventable accident. Now new information about how Tyre Sampson’s father found out about what happened only makes this situation sadder.
Tyre Sampson’s Father Reveals How He Found Out his Son is Dead
The social media age can be a very unintentionally cruel place, because often times when things happen to a family it’s all over the internet before they themselves are aware of what happened. Over the years we have seen many times where relatives of someone who died say they found out through social media. In the sports world we have seen athletes learn they were traded through social media. Sadly this same type of situation happened for Tyre Sampson’s father.
According to a report from WFLA, Tyre Sampson’s father Yarnell found out about his death after coming across the ICON Park death video of his 14 year old teen falling from the Free-Fall Amusement Park Ride. In the report WFLA stated that Yarnell Sampson said he felt like he was hit in the stomach and lost his breathe after witnessing the tragic footage of his son’s last moments.
The video of the 14 year old Tyre Sampson falling from the Free-Fall Amusement Park Ride at ICON Park shows that the force of the ride plunging to ground probably compounded to the injuries he suffered. In the footage you will see that as the ride was coming to a stop the 14 year old was catapulted from his seat toward the ground.
It happened so fast that it seemed like onlookers didn’t even realize what transpired until they were closer to the ground.
The ICON park death video below, which has garnered over 120,000 likes is likely the footage that Tyre Sampson’s father witnessed.
Tyre Sampson’s Family Wants ICON Park to Shut Down Free-Fall Ride Permanently
The ICON Park Free-Fall ride, which is a 430 foot drop was opened just three months ago in December 2021. Tyre Sampson’s family is calling for it to be shut down permanently. On the 911 call of the incident a person claimed that there was an issue with the safety harness of his seat even before the ride took off, which has left many people wondering why they still let him go up. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is still investigating.