Editor's note: This story includes quotes from a woman who claimed to be the victim's cousin. Tyre Sampson's family later told authorities they don't know who the woman is.


ORLANDO, Fla. — A peaceful protest will take place Friday at ICON Park in honor of the St. Louis teen who died on an amusement ride in Florida last week. 

Organizers anticipate about 100 people to gather April 1 at 6 p.m. near the Free Fall ride that killed 14-year-old Tyre Sampson. His cousin, Shay Johnson, is expected to attend.

The event is being organized by the Juneteenth Project Coalition, a Florida-based nonprofit that is advocating for the 430-foot tall ride to be demolished.

“We don't want it standing there; we don’t want it to continue to operate,” said Tina James Wilson, co-founder of the organization. “And who’s to say another child won’t die?” 

She added there were not enough safety protocols in place at the time of Sampson’s death.

“To say that having a seat belt on the ride would be a redundant safety net is like saying well we won’t put airbags in cars because you have a seat belt,” Wilson said.

She added ‌Sampson was denied entry on two other rides because of his weight.

Spectrum News obtained the ride's operational manual. According to the document, the maximum rider weight for Free Fall is about 286 pounds. The victim's father has said his son was well over 300 pounds. 

“Why was he allowed on that particular ride?” Wilson said.  

Since Sampson was from out of town and Black, Wilson said she does not know if the investigation into his death will be transparent and if the investigation will be treated as equal to a white person.

“We do have a problem with racial discrimination in the South,” she said. 

The Juneteenth Project Coalition is known for peaceful protests, according to Wilson, saying that they do not impede traffic, do not use foul language and stay within limits of the law.

“We just want to go and be heard. We want to be taken seriously,” she said. “We want the community and tourists from all over the world to know that we do care whether it was a non-minority or not.”

“We don’t think it’s fair for us to continue to be traumatized by the structure.”

There is an online petition for people to sign to help close down the Free Fall ride.

“What is greater, life or money? We don’t need tourist revenue that bad,” Wilson said. “We’re not in need of unsafe attractions. We won’t allow it.”

A vigil for Sampson was held Monday at ICON Park where more than 100 attended. Balloons were let go in his honor. Sampson played football, was an honor roll student at City Garden Montessori and had ambitions to become a lawyer.