ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A lawsuit was filed Monday by the attorneys representing the family of 14-year-old Tyre Sampson in connection to his fatal fall off Orlando's FreeFall ride operated by The SlingShot Group in March. 


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Several defendants have been named in this lawsuit including ICON Park, The Slingshot Group, the manufacturer and the contractor who built the ride.

This seven-count complaint alleges negligence and strict liability against all of the defendants. 

Among those allegations, the lawsuit alleges operators failed to provide adequate emergency medical treatment to Tyre Sampson after his fall, and that operators also failed to follow the ride’s safety guidelines, or post signs and train staff about height and/or weight restrictions. Mike Haggard, the attorney for Tyre Sampson's mom, said the ride was flawed from its inception.

“The manufacturer designed a 430-foot free fall ride, one of the most dangerous in the world, and they designed it without a secondary restraint system, multiple seatbelts to make sure that if something happened with the harness that the rider would be secure," Haggard told Spectrum News. 

Just last week, Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Nikki Fried announced primary findings in the investigation into Sampson’s death. That preliminary report detailing the circumstances surrounding the death of Sampson found the teen slipped from his seat on the Orlando FreeFall because someone manually adjusted a safety sensor.

Allegations in the complaint address this issue and Haggard said that he and Sampson’s mother Nekia Dodd are hoping to change amusement ride regulation across the country.

“This needs to be done in the open, all of the documents, all of the sworn testimony needs to be seen by not just the public but by congressional regulators but the consumer product safety commission so that we can get standards across the country with double restraint systems that will protect not only children but everyone who gets on these rides if they are allowed to continue, that’s what the mother of Tyre Sampson wants to result from his death, have his legacy be safer rides in this country," Haggard said. 

Spectrum News 13 reached out to the defendants listed in the lawsuit. Keator Construction LLC told us they had no comment to the lawsuit. We have yet to hear back from other parties named. The family is seeking an unspecified amount of damages and they did request a jury trial.