ORLANDO, Fla. — On Friday, two days before Father’s Day, Juneteenth and his birthday, Yarnell Sampson visited the Orlando Free Fall ride in ICON Park.
“I came up here to get my peace,” he said.
But he was surprised to find that less than three months after his 14-year-old son Tyre fell to his death from the ride, the flowers, balloons and photographs that once lined the fencing surrounding it were gone, replaced by beer bottles and oblivious passersby.
“I just wanted to know, did the people know that a young man actually died right here?” he said. “It blew my mind that eight out of 10 I asked didn’t know. They had no clue.”
On Monday, Yarnell Sampson and members of his family joined famed civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, State Rep. Geraldine Thompson and local activists to renew their call for the ride to be torn down and continue the work of keeping Tyre’s legacy alive.
Tyre Sampson died March 24 after falling from the ride. An autopsy report released last week confirmed the 6-foot-2, 383-pound teenager weighed nearly 100 pounds more than the ride’s weight limit allowed.
Tyre’s family in April filed a lawsuit against the ride’s owner, SlingShot Group, its landlord ICON Park and various manufacturers and installers who worked on the drop tower, alleging negligence.
“These companies cannot be allowed to get away with this,” Crump said. “To Slingshot Group, to ICON Park, executives, you all cannot simply sweep this under the rug as if Tyre Sampson’s death doesn’t matter.”
Thompson, D-Orlando, said the “Tyre Sampson bill” will be filed on the first day of the next state legislative session on March 7, 2023. The bill would take into account the “safety record” of any company that wants to build and operate a ride like the Free Fall tower.
But Thompson said Slingshot Group already has a lease with ICON Park to launch a second ride.
“They want to open a second ride as if Tyre Sampson’s life was inconsequential,” she said. “They are acting as if they are tone-deaf by saying they are going to open a second ride. There will be no second ride for the Slingshot Group.”
Sampson, who wore a shirt emblazoned with the words “Fly High Beloved Son” crowning a picture of his son in football gear, said if change isn’t enacted, someone else will die.
But the tragedy hasn’t stopped the ride operators and owners from continuing with business as usual, he said, adding he believes that because his son was a Black child from St. Louis, Mo., meaningful action is being delayed.
“This should be no color thing, this should be a human thing,” he said.
Jerryl Christmas, one of Sampson’s attorneys, said they are asking for a permanent memorial and had asked for the pieces of the temporary memorial to be given back to Tyre’s family.
“We never expected this,” Christmas said. “To just erase his memory.”
Sampson and others on Monday wrote on the barrier surrounding the ride, including the teen’s name, the date of his death and messages calling to preserve his legacy — “say his name” — and condemning the Free Fall ride as a “death trap.”
The Juneteenth Project Coalition pleaded for people to sign a petition calling for accountability among the ride operators and ICON Park. As of Monday afternoon, it had garnered 342 signatures, but the coalition and Sampson are asking for at least 25,000.
“At least show the man some proper respect,” Sampson said. “He was 14 years old. He was a kid.”
On Monday, Juneteenth Project Coalition founder Tina Wilson stood near the Free Fall ride with a megaphone demanding for the ride to be torn down and pleading with passersby to join the protest.
“What if it was your son?” she said. “We don’t want this death trap in our community.”
