ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The family of a 14-year-old boy who fell to his death last week from Orlando's FreeFall ride at ICON Park says, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office, they do not know the woman, Shay Johnson, who has claimed to be Tyre Sampson's cousin.
During a vigil for Sampson on March 28 near ICON Park, Johnson told Spectrum News and numerous other media outlets that she was related to Sampson and that she had spoken to him on the phone minutes before he went on the ride.
Johnson claimed Sampson had called her several times that night when he was turned away from other rides at ICON Park for being too big.
According to Johnson, Sampson called her again when he found out that he would be able to ride the drop tower.
“He called me and said, 'they let me ride it,'” Johnson told Spectrum News' Asher Wildman. “'I can ride, I can ride.' So I said 'ok get on.' Didn’t know this would be my last time talking to him alive. He just wanted to ride.”
However, Sampson's “mother told [detectives] she does not know who Shay Johnson is,” OCSO spokesperson Michelle Guido said Thursday in an email. Guido said detectives “looked into” Johnson, but there was no report produced and no arrest is pending, our partner, Orlando Sentinel, reported. “At this point, they have no evidence of a crime,” Guido said.
A cell phone number the woman gave to the Sentinel was not in service Thursday evening.
The woman's claims about Sampson's size came the same day as state officials released an operations manual published by the ride's manufacturer that indicated the FreeFall's weight limit was about 287 pounds. Family members have reportedly said he weighed more than 300 pounds.
Investigators say just after 11 p.m. on March 24, they were called to the park as witnesses reported that Sampson fell off the 430-foot tower drop ride.
A viewer’s video of the fall sent to Spectrum News appears to show the teen slipping from his seat as the ride slowed after its drop. It's unclear right now if Sampson came free from the safety harness.
Sampson's family said he was visiting from Missouri with his football team for spring break.
The FreeFall ride has been closed indefinitely while the Florida Department of Agriculture and the Orange County Sheriff's Office investigate the tragic death. Forensic investigators are also being brought in to investigate.
The Slingshot Group, which operaties the Orlando FreeFall, has also suspended operations of its Orlando Slingshot ride at ICON Park.
A nonprofit, the Juneteenth Project Coalition, is holding a peaceful protest Friday night at ICON Park, calling for the ride to be dismantled and to ensure a transparent and fair investigation of Sampson's death.
“There are so many people who are taking advantage of the situation, but with us being the civil rights organization here in Orlando and that’s our district Orange County, we’re doing the right thing as far as ensuring that there’s transparency as far as the investigation goes,” Co-founder Tina Wilson said. “We don’t want this to be another day, another dollar. We have to look at that structure … Just take the structure down, put something more friendly and possibly we can have some closure.”