Amusement park thrill rides are designed to present riders an expertise that feels harmful, with out really placing them at risk. Sadly, accidents do occur, and within the worst circumstances, they’ll result in tragic penalties. Such was the case in 2022 when a 14-year-old boy fell to his demise from a drop tower trip.
This week, a jury in Orange County, Florida present in favor of the household of Tyre Sampson, a 14-year-old boy who fell from the FreeFall drop tower attraction at Orlando’s ICON Park in March 2022. The trip’s producer, Funtime Handels, based mostly in Austria, has been ordered to pay $310 million in damages.
FreeFall Producer Was The Solely Defendant That Did Not Settle Out Of Court docket
For sure that $310 million is not any small amount of cash. The household accused the trip producer of negligence when it got here to the attraction’s design, construct and supervision. How the corporate would reply to such claims is one thing we do not really know. Based on WESH, the corporate by no means appeared in courtroom to defend itself throughout the trial.
The dearth of a protection is definitely one purpose for the big damages award. The jury solely ever heard the household’s facet of the story. Funtime Handels did examine the tower shortly after the accident, however evidently in some unspecified time in the future, the corporate merely stopped responding to the difficulty.
Funtime Handels was the one remaining defendant within the lawsuit filed by Sampson’s household. Initially, the go well with additionally included Slingshot, the proprietor of the attraction, and ICON Park, the place the FreeFall tower was positioned, however these fits had been settled out of courtroom and the phrases weren’t disclosed.
Sadly, the FreeFall accident wouldn’t be the one considered one of its sort in 2022. A 14-year-old woman in Denmark died in a curler coaster accident only a few months after Sampson fell. A month after that, a number of folks had been hospitalized attributable to a malfunction on the favored El Toro curler coaster at Six Flags Nice Journey. The coaster would stay closed for 10 months whereas it underwent important upkeep.
An INvestigation Revealed The Attraction Had Been Modified
An investigation following the accident revealed that the load restrict for riders of the FreeFall drop tower was 275 kilos, a weight which Sampson exceeded by about 100 kilos. It was additionally found that seats on the tower had been modified to permit for bigger riders. This led to a bigger hole between the rider and the harness, which resulted in Sampson falling out whereas he was within the air.
The attraction closed following the teenager’s demise and by no means reopened. Dollywood closed its drop tower attraction, which was additionally constructed by Funtime Handels following the incident. Dollywood would finally reopen its attraction. FreeFall was finally torn down.