ORLANDO, FL. — Wednesday would have been Tyre Sampson’s 15th birthday. He’s the teen who died after falling from the Orlando FreeFall at ICON Park back in March.

What You Need To Know

  • Tyre Sampson passed after he fell from the FreeFall ride at ICON Park in March

  • His family gathered to celebrate what would have been his 15th birthday

  • They are calling for a change in ride safety

Following the special tribute to Tyre, his father, Yarnell Sampson, shared his story.

“I failed as a parent, I failed,” Sampson said. 

That’s how Sampson says he felt once he got the news about his son Tyree Sampson’s death, he was many miles away in St. Louis unable to be there by his son’s side as he took his last breath.

“And that eats be up every day, that I wasn’t there with him, when he was there 15 minutes unattended by himself with strangers,” Sampson said. 

Yarnell is in Orlando along with friends, family and his Attorney Ben Crump. All standing at the base of the FreeFall ride honoring Tyre on his birthday where he died.

“This was a young child who lost his life completely unjustly. He was at an amusement park and he did absolutely nothing wrong,” he said.

Crump says he and his legal team are asking the court to expedite the case, fast track it and give them a trial date. For the time being, the family continues to wait for answers and fight for change.

Representative Geraldine Thompson announced today that she plans to draft the Tyre Sampson law, a bill addressing amusement ride safety across the state. This and other pushes for change, Yarnell says, is a step in the right direction, a step towards closure.​

“I’m up here trying to make change, with nothing with nothing at all but my heart... that’s all I got and my word,” Sampson said. 

We reached out to the Florida Department of Agriculture asking where things stand with this investigation. They report that the investigation is still ongoing. 

Orlando Slingshot provided us with this statement. “​We continue to cooperate with all inquiries, and it is our hope that one way Tyre’s name and memory can live on is through the proposed ‘Tyre Sampson Bill,’ which we support. The loss of Tyre was a tragic accident that we take very seriously.” 

- Trevor Arnold, GrayRobinson P.A., attorney for Orlando Slingshot.