Justice for Tyre Sampson: Family and friends rally to SHUT DOWN ride from which teen fell to death
Though the death of a teenager who fell from a ride at ICON park devastated his friends and family, the tragedy has not broken their courage to fight for justice. The supporters of Tyre Sampson are now rallying around the park, demanding the Free Fall ride that took his life last Thursday, March 24 be taken down. The slogan for their march is “Take the ride down. Justice for Tyre.”
Hundreds of locals are also reportedly walking along with the 14-year-old’s relatives. Mike Bradley, an Orlando father, said: “Because I have a child. My child likes to ride stuff like this. If it was my child I [would] feel bad too.” Harmony, an 11-year-old girl, while referring to an unnamed cousin of Tyre stated: “When I heard it was her cousin, I felt really bad for her. I just cried and she gave me a hug. We put up balloons for him, and I tried my best to keep the candles lit.”
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It has been reported that the Sampson family has been unable to sleep since last week and they won’t until the 430-foot ride at the park is closed down. The family has also gathered thousands of signatures on a petition for the ride to be shut. They are now planning to take the petition to someone authorized who can help them with this.
John Sanneria, who was a high school football player from Missouri, said while visiting Tyre's memorial: “Just take it down. We've got enough around here that we don't need to be constantly reminded of this.” Another visitor named David Avney added: “I mean, what's going to happen next? Somebody else is going to get hurt and it could have been prevented the first time.”
Bridget Neal, who also visited the memorial, noted: “An innocent child should not have to lose their life before they realize it's unsafe. It was unsafe before he even got on the ride. That could have happened to anyone, anyone's family member.” Meanwhile, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said, “My desire is whatever is done ultimately should ensure everyone that that type of tragedy can never even happen again.”
The investigation into Tyre’s death is still going on. Earlier, the teenager’s cousin Shay Johnson had said, “We need this ride down so no one else gets hurt. I have to have my voice heard. I’m doing it for my cousin. He’s not here for his voice to be heard so I have to be his voice. I have to be his mom’s voice. I have to be his dad’s voice. I just (have to) be the voice for my family."
She added, “Until this ride come down, if I (have to) be up from sunup to sundown until this ride come down, I will be here,” before adding: “It (makes) me happy to see all these people coming out. Half of these people don’t know my cousin and they here and I (want to) thank everybody for coming.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, March 29, Ritchie Armstrong, CEO of the Slingshot Group that owns the Free Fall ride, said: “We are heartbroken by the loss of Tyre Sampson and absolutely devastated for his family and loved ones. We have suspended the operations of the Free Fall ride and the Slingshot ride at Icon Park. We are fully cooperating with the authorities at the state and local levels who are investigating this tragic incident. We plan on providing additional information in the coming days, as we learn more.”