Teen Was ‘Freaking Out’ On Orlando Ride Before Falling To His Death

A 14yrs old boy who fell to his death from a 430-foot Orlando drop tower knew something was wrong because the report says he was ‘freaking out’ before the ride started.

The father of the teenager said that the boy believed something was wrong with his safety harness during the ride and asked his friend sitting next to him to tell his parents that he loved them.

Teenager Tyre Sampson, who was on a football program trip from St. Louis, died after slipping out of his seat on the 430-foot Orlando Free Fall ride at the ICON Park at around 11 pm on Thursday.

As photos and new 911 call audio suggest that Tyre’s safety harness may not have been properly secured, his father Yarnell Sampson says that the teen knew something was wrong as soon as the ride began to ascend.

‘When the ride took off, that’s when he was feeling uncomfortable. He was like ‘this thing is moving,’ you know what I’m saying. And he was like ‘what’s going on?” Samson told WOFL-TV.

The grieving father said that Tyre began to panic and shared a chilling premonition with his two best friends, seated next to him on the ride.

That’s when he started freaking out. And he was explaining to his friends, next to him, ‘I don’t know man, if I don’t make it down, safely, can you please tell my mamma and daddy that I love them,” said Sampson. ‘For him to say something like that, he must have felt something.’

The 6-foot-5, 340-pound teenager was on a trip with his football program, and was sitting next to two of his best friends when he plunged to his death, his father said

Sampson said that his son was 6-foot-5 and 340 pounds, and was told by other riders in the park that he was too large to ride safely, but that the Free Fall ride operators waved him aboard.

‘This particular ride decided, ‘Yeah, we can take you, get on,’ when nobody else would allow him to get on the rides,’ said Sampson.

Meanwhile, new 911 call audio reported by the Sun reveals that a bystander believed that ride staff had not secured the teen’s safety harness.

The 911 caller graphically described Tyre’s injuries, saying he was unresponsive but possibly still alive.

‘They’re saying he’s breathing, but he’s not responsive. Looks like his arms are broken and his legs,’ the person said.

‘I don’t know from where he fell. They [ICON park staff] didn’t secure the seatbelt on him,’ the caller claims.

An investigation into the park is now underway. At a press conference on Friday, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said: ‘It appears to be just a tragedy. We will see moving forward what that results in.’

Tyre and the rest of the group had been told moments earlier that there were no seatbelts on the ride. The only thing stopping them from falling out of their seats were plastic, pull-down harnesses that are supposed to buckle in place, in between riders’ legs.

One woman was worried about the fact there was nothing more to keep them in the seats as the ride descended and asked if there was a seatbelt to clip them in. ‘There ain’t no seatbelts,’ the ride attendant replied.

The ride then went up in the air and halted for around 10 seconds before dropping.

The boy fell out of his seat and landed on the ground soon afterward to the horror of the other riders.

After they were back on the ground, the video shows a different park worker running over to the ride attendant and asking: ‘You didn’t check it!?’

He insisted that he had and she asked again: ‘Are you sure?’

Tyre’s family paid tribute to him on social media as a ‘gentle giant’.

His stepmother Wendy said: ‘Tyre was a respectful gentle giant.

‘You will be truly missed son,’ she said.

Park employees say they initially thought his body was a piece of the ride that had broken off until they saw the boy lying on the ground.

Sampson was taken to a hospital, where he died, sheriff’s officials said.

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 said on the 911 call. ‘It was the biggest smack I ever heard in my life. I saw him hit the ground.’

A woman who called 911 told a dispatcher that Sampson was facedown, wasn´t responsive, and appeared to have broken his arms and legs. Another man told a 911 dispatcher that the teen had no pulse.

It’s unclear what the minimum height restriction for the ride is or how he could have fallen out of his harness.