The family of Tyre Sampson, a Missouri teenager who died last month after sliding off an amusement park ride in the city of Orlando in Florida, filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Monday, April 25.
According to a report by NBC News, the 14-year-old Sampson died after plunging from the Free Fall attraction at ICON Park on March 24. His parents, father Yarnell Sampson and mother Nekia Dodd, are both named as plaintiffs in the 65-page lawsuit filed in the 9th Judicial Circuit Court of Orange County.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit were Orlando Eagle Drop Slingshot LLC, the company that owns the Free Fall, and ICON Park. A representative with ICON Park could not be reached immediately for comment.
Company that designed and manufactured Free Fall also named in the list of defendants
Also included in the list of defendants in the lawsuit is Funtime Handels GMBH and Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GMBH, an Austrian company that designed and manufactured the Free Fall ride, according to WESH. No representative with the organization also could be reached for comment.
Attorneys for the Slingshot group did release a statement on Monday but they did not directly address the lawsuit filed by the Sampsons. They said that the company is cooperating with state investigators about the incident involving Tyre Sampson.
The company reiterated in its statement that all protocols, procedures and safety measures provided by the manufacturer of the ride were followed. The Slingshot group added that they look forward to working with the Florida legislature to implement change in the industry.
According to the suit, Sampson's life was unnecessarily cut short because of the incident. Tyre was described in the lawsuit as an honor-roll student and football player. The suit said that despite Sampson's prowess on the football field, he was known as a kind-hearted person who cared about other people.
Lawsuit takes aim at defendants for not training properly their employees, contractors, and agents
The suit added that Tyre had a long and prosperous life in front of him but that was cut short by this tragic event. According to the lawsuit, ICON defendants owed a duty to its customers to exercise reasonable care in maintaining, designing, operating, managing, constructing, testing, inspecting, fixing, and/or controlling the amusement park rides that are elocated on its premises, including the Free Fall amusement park ride that claimed the life of Sampson.
According to CBS News, the lawsuit also said that the aforementioned defendants failed to train their employees, contractors, and agents as to the proper and safe height and weight restrictions for the Free Fall amusement park ride.
According to one of the lawsuit's allegations, while most amusement park rides similar to the Free Fall are equipped with a seat belt and harness, the Free Fall ride did not have any seat belts.
