Source: CBS News Miami
The Missouri family of a 14-year-old boy who fell to his death from the 430-foot tall Orlando FreeFall ride in March 2022 will receive $310 million by the attraction’s manufacturer, according to a jury in the civil case.
Funtime Handels and Gerstlauer Amusement Rides, the attraction’s builder, is based in Austria. The family of Tire Sampson will have to seek an order from an Austrian court to collect the damages, the Associated Press reported.
Nekia Dodd and Yarnell Sampson sued both the ride’s operators and its manufacturers.
In April 2022, they filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging the ride’s operators should have known that riders could be “subject to unreasonably dangerous and foreseeable risks, and that serious injury and death of the occupants in the ride could result.”
They reached an earlier settlement with ICON Park and the company that operated the ride.
The boy’s mother and father will each receive $155 million from the ride manufacturer.
The ride was taken down one year after the accident.
On March 24, 2022, 14-year-old Sampson was riding what was once known as the world’s tallest free-standing drop tower when he fell as the thrill ride was plummeting down. The ride took 30 riders into the air over 400 feet before dropping at 70 mph.
Sampson was 6-foot-2 and weighed around 380 pounds at the time of his death, but the ride had a 287-pound rider limit, according to his safety manual.
The ride itself did not have an electrical or mechanical failure, but a manual adjustment in the seat he was riding in allowed the ride to operate even when it was unsafe.
In May 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Tire Sampson Act into law, which requires a seat belt and harness for any ride that goes over 100 feet and for all rides to be regularly commissioned, certified and tested by a separate regulatory agency.
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