The father of an aspiring middle school football player who fell to his death from a towering Florida ride shared his despair when relatives petitioned for the ride to be permanently closed.
Tire Sampson, 14, from Missouri, died Thursday on the Orlando Free Fall ride at ICON amusement park as his friend’s family watched helplessly as he fell 430 feet to the ground as the ride plummeted at 75 miles per hour.
His grieving father, Yarnell Sampson, spoke on Monday about the heartbreak Tire’s sudden death had caused him after learning the tragic news of the harrowing accident via social media videos.
“I wish I was there to tell him I love him, that I’m sorry. That he loses his life. So young and I wish I was,” Sampson told WESH.
“I want to know what happened to my son. I want to know why my son is stuck in a white bag and needs to be sent home. He went there. Why can’t he go back? I want answers from everyone. Who was involved?’ Added Samson.
Tire’s family have also called for the ride to be permanently closed. His cousin Shay Johnson started a petition Monday, collecting hundreds of signatures from people who visited a memorial for the boy outside of ICON Park.
‘My cousin lost his life on that trip. I don’t feel safe and I think it should be closed before someone else’s family has to go through what we’re going through,” Johnson said.
The ride remains closed indefinitely while investigators continue to investigate what happened Thursday night when Sampson fell from his seat at the freefall amusement park, which is taller than the Statue of Liberty along a busy street in the heart of Orlando’s tourist district.
Yarnell Sampson opened up about his heartbreak on Monday following the sudden death of his son. Tire fell to his death from a towering amusement ride in Florida
A petition launched Monday to permanently close the ride collected hundreds of signatures from people who visited a memorial for the boy outside of ICON Park
Tire Sampson, of Missouri, died Thursday on the Orlando Free Fall ride at ICON amusement park as his friend’s family watched helplessly as he fell 430 feet to the ground as the ride plummeted at 75 miles per hour
Sampson recounted the overwhelming despair he felt after seeing horrific footage of Tire slipping from a harness and falling to his death, and said he didn’t think he would be able to recover from the loss.
“It felt like someone hit me in the stomach so hard. I just lost, I lost, lost the wind,” he told WESH.
“And the pain behind it could never be taken away – and sorry I won’t take it back and no money no nothing on earth to replace the young man. And it’s just sad that a young man had his bright future taken away from a ride or an amusement park,” he added.
“I want this ride to be taken down,” Johnson said.
Isaiah Edwards, a TikTok star who attended the memorial and signed the petition, said he wanted to show his support for Tire’s family.
Tire’s family have also called for the ride to be permanently closed. His cousin Shay Johnson started a petition Monday
Tire Sampson, seen far right, fell to his death from the world’s highest fall descent on Thursday night in Orlando
“We have kids of our own, so that’s someone’s kid when it comes down to it. And whatever compassion you have as a human being, you’ll try to come down here,’ said Edwards.
The municipality prepared a balloon launch in the park on Monday at 6 p.m.
Lawyers representing Tire’s family are trying to understand whether there was negligence on the part of the ride operators, or whether the teen’s size or other factors played a role in the tragedy.
Tire Sampson, known to his friends at Big Tick, was 6ft 5 inches tall and weighed well over 300 pounds.
“This young man, he was athletic and he was tall. He couldn’t know,” said Bob Hilliard, a Texas attorney representing Tire’s mother, Nekia Dodd, in an interview Saturday.
“This will be a problem of lack of supervision and lack of training. A clear case of negligence.’
Tire’s stepmother has also said that he was an aspiring middle school football player
Attorneys Ben Crump (left) and Bob Hilliard have been hired to represent Tire Sampson’s family
Crump, who is acting on behalf of the family, tweeted his condolences
Video of the accident showed passengers driving while discussing problems with an over-the-shoulder seat belt.
Sampson’s stepmother said she saw videos of Tire and his friends beginning their ascent, with someone who could be overheard saying he was not being restrained in his seat.
Details are still vague, but there is evidence that Tire has been turned away from other rides at ICON due to various size and weight restrictions.
“What I’m hearing is that his friend spoke to him before the situation happened,” his father Yarnell Sampson said Saturday. “He said he wasn’t comfortable with the situation, ‘That thing isn’t pushing down, you know what I mean? And if I can’t make it, tell my mom and dad I love them.”
Tire was a giant for his age, already as tall as an NFL offensive lineman. His family says he aspires to play professional football
Tire Sampson with family members in a photo posted to Facebook by his mother, Nekia Dodd
The ride then began to turn as it climbed the tower around 11pm on Thursday before someone was later seen falling from the ride.
The ride takes 30 people to that height and then tilts so that they face the ground for a moment or two and then crashes to the ground at speeds of 75 miles per hour or more.
Well-known civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who works with Hilliard and represents Tire’s father, said the family is “shocked and heartbroken by the loss of their son.”
“This young man was the kind of son everyone hopes for — an honor student, an aspiring athlete and a kind-hearted person who cared about others,” Crump said in a statement Saturday.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which regulates rides in Florida except for major theme parks, declined to comment Saturday, except to say the investigation is ongoing.
The seat that Tire Sampson sat in is covered in black plastic
Investigators sat on the drive trying to figure out what went wrong
Investigators looked very closely at the drive on which the accident occurred
The Icon Park attraction said in a statement that it is fully cooperating with investigators and that the Orlando FreeFall ride will be closed indefinitely. It opened late last year on International Drive, a major tourist mecca.
“We are heartbroken by the incident that claimed the life of one of our guests. We offer our condolences and deepest sympathy to his family and friends,” read a statement from SlingShot Group, which operates the ride.
“We are absolutely saddened and devastated by what has happened and our hearts go out to this young man’s family,” added John Stine, sales manager at the Slingshot Group, which owns the ride.
Tire was a giant for his age, already as tall as an NFL offensive lineman. His family says he aspires to play professional football, like many children with athletic ability who see a way to buy their mother a home and elevate all family members to a new level.
“It was his dream, and it was on its way,” Wendy Wooten, his stepmother, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He had so many scouts watching him. He would be a great soccer player.”
Tire is said to have had athletic ability and decided which school he would play football for
The ride was completely closed on Saturday as investigations into the incident took place
“He had all the best qualities that I never had,” Sampson told the Post. “He was intelligent. He was a good boy. He was a square. When he focused on this football thing, his grades had to be good enough to play football and that was all he cared about. People told him, ‘You have a chance to make it, man,’ and he started to believe it.”
Tire was part of a group called the St. Louis Bad Boyz Football Club who were in Orlando for a week-long training camp, the Post-Dispatch reported. The group had escorts and apparently did what millions do every spring break in Orlando: enjoy the theme parks and rides.
He was a student at the City Garden Montessori School in St. Louis.
He hadn’t decided yet whether to play football at Cardinal Ritter College Prep or East St. Louis High School.
The school sent a letter to parents on Friday telling them counseling would be available for students.
“Tyre has been a City Garden student for many years and was a loved and valued member of our City Garden family. We will miss him dearly and our hearts go out to his family and friends at this extremely difficult time,” said Christie Huck, the school’s CEO and Principal, Crystal Isom, in the letter.