A 14-year-old fell to his death from the new drop tower ride at Florida’s Icon Park.
Tyre Sampson, 14, of St. Louis, Missouri, fell from the Orlando FreeFall ride, illustrated by its operators as the world’s tallest freestanding drop tower, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.
In a video circulating on social media that purportedly shows the incident, a person falls from their seat about five seconds into the ride’s drop down the tower, as the vehicle slows down before it reaches the ground.
Deputies responded to a 911 call after the boy fell off the Orlando FreeFall and was transported to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital where he died from his injuries.
Sheriff’s investigators will deduce whether the incident was an accident or intentional, and from an initial inquiry, “it appears to be a terrible tragedy,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina stated.
The FreeFall is a 430-foot-tall tower and ride, with a vehicle encircling the tower that takes up to 30 riders to the structure’s top. When the vehicle reaches the top, “it’ll tilt forward 30 degrees and face the ground before free-falling nearly 400 feet at speeds reaching over 75 mph per the park’s website.