Crews begin work to dismantle FreeFall ride
By WESH Staff
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ORLANDO (WESH) — On Tuesday, crews began the work ahead of dismantling the ICON Park ride where a 14-year-old boy fell to his death.
Construction workers were seen at the site where Tyre Sampson lost his life nearly one year ago. The 430-foot tall ride will eventually be taken down to the ground.
ICON Park released the following statement:
“We have been supportive of the Slingshot Group’s decision to dismantle the FreeFall tower, and are pleased that the process has begun. The activity will be contained on the southwest corner of the property, and ICON Park’s attractions, restaurants and dining venues will remain open and operating as normal for guests.”
A state investigation revealed the seat the teen was riding had been manually adjusted, so the safety harness was wide enough to allow Tyre to slip out as the drop tower ride came down.
“This ride needs to come down. We all know this ride needs to come down. It’s been almost a year, and the fact that this ride is still standing today really is just such a travesty,” Kim Wald, the Sampson family attorney, said.
The owner agreed to pay the full $250,000 fine, accepting the state’s determination that ride safety had been manipulated, and employees were not properly trained.
“This is obviously an unthinkable tragedy,” said Trevor Arnold, an attorney for Orlando Eagle Drop Slingshot. “We have retained a long-time amusement park company, Ride Entertainment, to coordinate the deconstruction of the FreeFall ride. As part of their process, we expect a crane to arrive next week (week of March 13th) to begin the deconstruction process. That activity is expected to continue into the following week because of the large size of the ride. We hope to have the ride fully deconstructed before the anniversary of Tyre Sampson’s tragic death, and we will continue to work in that direction and give timeline updates as they are available.”
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