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Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Originally Posted by Ice_Major
Looking at past cases and depending upon indemnification agreements, I can see all parties having to contribute to the final settlement. . ...... As a collective there is probably at least 30 million in coverage. Not saying they are going pay 30 million ...
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Expect $10m +
The parents will be pursuing the 'potential' NFL earnings of DS, as they stated on day1. Seems a pretty far stretch, but parents are parents, and these parents got cut short. Glad to not be the friends who offered to bring this kid on vacation. Gotta be tough for them.
I do wonder why mechanical position micro switches, or electric interlocks did not shut down the ride when his shoulder retaining clamp is clearly not fully closed, as are adjacent riders. Did operators manually tug on the shoulder restraint before launch? So many simple steps could have prevented this accident. This kid had a lot of mass in motion, and with an abrupt stop ... that mass in motion is going to keep moving, and take on a different shape if there is a gap in the seat and restraining device.
Kind of like watching those huge Pumpkin Drops / launches. There is a lot of deformation of a structural body that is subject to high G forces.
Doubt that deformation is even considered in design criteria. I certainly will yin the future! High speed camera sequence of his body squeezing through the gap would be a very interesting revelation.
Expect $10m +
The parents will be pursuing the 'potential' NFL earnings of DS, as they stated on day1. Seems a pretty far stretch, but parents are parents, and these parents got cut short. Glad to not be the friends who offered to bring this kid on vacation. Gotta be tough for them.
I do wonder why mechanical position micro switches, or electric interlocks did not shut down the ride when his shoulder retaining clamp is clearly not fully closed, as are adjacent riders. Did operators manually tug on the shoulder restraint before launch? So many simple steps could have prevented this accident. This kid had a lot of mass in motion, and with an abrupt stop ... that mass in motion is going to keep moving, and take on a different shape if there is a gap in the seat and restraining device.
Kind of like watching those huge Pumpkin Drops / launches. There is a lot of deformation of a structural body that is subject to high G forces.
Doubt that deformation is even considered in design criteria. I certainly will yin the future! High speed camera sequence of his body squeezing through the gap would be a very interesting revelation.
Have you not been following the thread since the beginning?
We've known his harness was not checked. The employee checked the kid on Tyre's left then started the ride. Tyre was freaking out, he knew his harness was not on right but he was ignored, the ride started.
He was there with his football team I believe, not his friends family. It was in one of the articles yesterday.
I don't know if there is better video of him falling out of his seat then the one I posted. Will be interesting to find there is more.
Have you not been following the thread since the beginning?
We've known his harness was not checked. The employee checked the kid on Tyre's left then started the ride. Tyre was freaking out, he knew his harness was not on right but he was ignored, the ride started.
He was there with his football team I believe, not his friends family. It was in one of the articles yesterday.
I don't know if there is better video of him falling out of his seat then the one I posted. Will be interesting to find there is more.
I feel I'm repeating myself, because I am, but again...
It doesn't MATTER that the harness wasn't checked; it was LOCKED.
The ride began BECAUSE it was locked; not because anyone "overrode" a warning.
DESPITE being locked, it didn't fit his body properly because the bulk of his body "spilled" out the bottom of it because, despite being locked, it rode high on him and he had A LOT of body to "spill out" the bottom.
Then it REALLY "spilled out" when g-forces were applied.
Again and again... DESIGN FLAW unless certain heights and weights were restricted. An attachment between his legs would have prevented this.
I feel I'm repeating myself, because I am, but again...
It doesn't MATTER that the harness wasn't checked; it was LOCKED.
The ride began BECAUSE it was locked; not because anyone "overrode" a warning.
DESPITE being locked, it didn't fit his body properly because the bulk of his body "spilled" out the bottom of it because, despite being locked, it rode high on him and he had A LOT of body to "spill out" the bottom.
Then it REALLY "spilled out" when g-forces were applied.
Again and again... DESIGN FLAW unless certain heights and weights were restricted. An attachment between his legs would have prevented this.
Maybe we should repeat ourselves, the employees should not have let him stay on that ride, he was over the weight and height obviously. Manufacturer has a part that mentions people not fitting the seat.
Had the employee checked he would have seen the seat was not properly latched.
Maybe we should repeat ourselves, the employees should not have let him stay on that ride, he was over the weight and height obviously. Manufacturer has a part that mentions people not fitting the seat.
Had the employee checked he would have seen the seat was not properly latched.
OMG, wrong!!! The kid checked his own seat, and IT WAS LOCKED.
Again, had it not been, he'd have come tumbling out the second it tilted forward.
It's not the responsibility of a teenage attendant to GUESS riders' weights and heights.
Maybe we should repeat ourselves, the employees should not have let him stay on that ride, he was over the weight and height obviously. Manufacturer has a part that mentions people not fitting the seat.
Had the employee checked he would have seen the seat was not properly latched.
You use the word 'obviously'. A ride should not depend on 'obviously', not ever and especially not when the observation is coming from young people who are notoriously bad at guessing age, weight, etc.
I question whether or not a manual check is even a required part of the ride procedure anymore, wouldn't that be the purpose of computers and the reason for the statement that the lights were on (or however it was stated in the video)
OMG, wrong!!! The kid checked his own seat, and IT WAS LOCKED.
Again, had it not been, he'd have come tumbling out the second it tilted forward.
It's not the responsibility of a teenage attendant to GUESS riders' weights and heights.
And there WAS no height and weight limit posted.
Accident causation can be quite complex. I can make room for the fact that there was employee error and a design flaw. For that matter, there may have been training errors as well as negligence in the hiring of employees to operate the ride. Accident investigation and expert testimony will flush out these issues. Generally, a lawyer must pay for his own accident reconstruction--even if one has been done by a government entity. It gets involved, but often official investigations don't answer all the questions that must be answered. They can be cursory and hastily done. Paying for such an investigation will cost thousands of dollars. Sometimes, it costs tens of thousands of dollars. I've been billed over $2,000.00 for very simple investigations primarily because they are conducted by engineers in fields like "motion research" who charged hundreds of dollars an hour for their time. One skill that a lawyer brings to a case is the ability to find good experts with good credentials who can conduct a superior investigation.
Most states have "proportionate liability" with respect to damages. In other words, each negligent party is responsible for the exact percentage of fault they had in contributing to the accident. In a trial, a jury is tasked with determining who exactly is at fault and in what percentage. The jury must also make a calculation of the total amount of damages. A lawyer who represents the family in a situation like this has to make decisions early on. For example, do you settle with some defendants or do you insist on a trial with all of them participating? The risk you run if you settle out of court with one or more of the defendants, but choose to leave others in the lawsuit is that those that are still in the lawsuit will attempt to point the finger at those that have settled and claim they were 100% at fault for the accident. One lesson many lawyers have learned the hard way is to either settle with all defendants at one time or to keep all defendants in the case through the trial to guarantee a jury fairly apportions liability in the case.
Maybe we should repeat ourselves, the employees should not have let him stay on that ride, he was over the weight and height obviously. Manufacturer has a part that mentions people not fitting the seat. Had the employee checked he would have seen the seat was not properly latched.
You are absolutely correct. I previously posted the link to all 100+ pages of the ride manual which includes the responsibilities of the attendants.
I also mentioned the several opportunities that would have prevented this. Also, from one of the videos I posted, a rider said the attendants get to choose how long the ride stays at the top before they push the drop button so the attendants certainly have some control of the ride even after it starts. I watched a few different povs and the timing did differ so I have to believe what the rider said is true.
You are absolutely correct. I previously posted the link to all 100+ pages of the ride manual which includes the responsibilities of the attendants.
I also mentioned the several opportunities that would have prevented this. Also, from one of the videos I posted, a rider said the attendants get to choose how long the ride stays at the top before they push the drop button so the attendants certainly have some control of the ride even after it starts. I watched a few different povs and the timing did differ so I have to believe what the rider said is true.
Yes, the employee is the one who decides if they drop soon after getting to the top, plus tilting their seats, or if they will build the thrill by keeping them at the top longer. I think I reposted your video the other day.
Tyre knew his harness was not on right. He tried to push it up, it looked like he wanted to reset it or get off but the ride started while he was trying to get the attention of the employee.
From what I posted the other day, the employees were trained by the manufacturer. I'll be shocked if they did not go over the manual plus height and weight which is listed there.
I know you and I have been reading and watching videos and that the harness being "locked" the way it was does not mean it was not ill fitting and that Tyree was safe to ride the ride. The manual states people like him should be taken off, they should not ride.
OMG, wrong!!! The kid checked his own seat, and IT WAS LOCKED.
Again, had it not been, he'd have come tumbling out the second it tilted forward.
It's not the responsibility of a teenage attendant to GUESS riders' weights and heights.
And there WAS no height and weight limit posted.
Just because it was locked does not mean it was secure. I've said this before, on another harness ride, I don't recall what state, the harness came down over the over weight person who's name was Chris from the TLC show 1,000LB sisters, the employee could not get the harness to lock, so he moved Chris to another seat where he was able to get the harness to "click" into the locked position. I don't recall if there was only one click that signaled the harness lock was engaged or if there were multiple clicks. I wonder if the drop tower harness was similar in that it also clicked but the locked harness did not really matter because according to the last article, Tyre's harness was still down like I said I saw on a video and that it was still locked when the ride finished.
The ride employees were trained by the manufacturer on how to operate the ride along with who should or who should not ride it.
According to the same article, a height is in fact posted when you begin the line for the ride. The weight is not posted though. The manual did state both the weight and height. It also has a statement about larger people not fitting in the seat/harness correctly, how they should not be allowed to ride it.
I do not doubt that the ride company trained the employees how to tell when the harness was on correctly and how it was not. The manufacturer was there from opening day on December 28th until some time in February and that according to the one video where the mothers attorney speaks, he said there were modified seats, implying for larger people that were added to the ride while the manufacturer was still training staff.
Further evidence that the operation of the ride did not include the necessary requirement came from photos on social media that seemed to show a “rider qualification” sign at the entrance of the Orlando FreeFall ride. The sign listed a height requirement for individuals, but no mention of a weight limit.
A report was released March 28th by Democrat Nikki Fried, the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FCACS), that said when the ride’s magnets engaged while falling, Tyre “came out” but, “his harness was still in a down and locked position when the ride stopped.”
Nikki Fried and another Democrat Representative Geraldine Thompson said “legislative action” was needed to expand the FDACS’ authority over amusement parks and rides saying they're fully committed to finding out what happened to prevent tragedies like this from happening again.
Thompson is working on making a Tyree Sampson Bill to address whatever it's found that the problems were/are.
Currently amusement rides are not regulated in Florida, thanks to the Democrats according to the article because tourism at theme parks brings the money in. They also accept millions of dollars in donations from major amusement park giants, with Fried being given generous amounts to her Political Action Committee. It was Fried who green-lighted an initial permit inspection for the drop ride in December to begin with.
Article below dated 12/27 which was a Monday, says the ride opens Tuesday which I assume means the next day, 12/28.
The second article is really long.
The third article talks about a few different drop rides, the different restraints and how they differ in what they do. There is also video showing the different rides dropping where one has a totally different seat design while anothers molded crotch seat piece, called a horn, is different from the seats on this drop ride. They look cheaper made on Dr Doom's fear-fall in Orlando (which I believe does have a belt) while the ones on this ride look more molded, thicker, like they would hold you in better than the other Orlando ride which is at the one minute mark in the video.
In the end, it doesn't really matter what the manufacturer does because these accidents are usually due to operator/employee error and not because the ride restraint failed such as what happened in Colorado with the employees not making sure her belt was actually belted versus laying on her lap. The question is did the little girl knowingly not do her seat belt because she was being a defiant kid like my grandson lately in my car?
ORLANDO, Fla. – Two new world record-breaking attractions coming to Orlando’s International Drive are set to open Tuesday.
The Slingshot Group of Companies is opening the Orlando Slingshot and the Orlando Free Fall at ICON Park, where the world’s tallest swing ride, the Starflyer, already stands, making Orlando the “land of the giants.”
When the attractions open, ICON Park will have three world record rides that guests can check out.
The drop tower will send up to 30 Hi guests plummeting 400 feet, 70 miles an hour. Leaders said just before the drop, guests will tilt 30 degrees near the top.
The horrific death of 14-year-old Tyre Sampson on March 24 in Orlando, Florida, continues to evoke widespread shock and anger two weeks after the teen fell to his death while riding the Orlando FreeFall amusement ride in ICON Park. As state and police investigations into the tragedy remain ongoing, evidence continues to mount exposing possible irregularities and recklessness in the ride’s operation and manufacturing.
Attorneys representing Tyre’s parents visited ICON Park Tuesday morning and said the family plans on filing a negligence and product liability lawsuit in the coming weeks against the companies tied to the boy’s death. Attorney Ben Crump, who represents Tyre’s father Yarnell Sampson, told reporters the case was being handled as a “thorough investigation into the tragic killing of this 14-year-old child who should have never been killed.”
Crump likened the death of the teen to the police murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, an event that triggered a wave of protests and demonstrations against police violence involving millions across the world. “Other than George Floyd’s tragic torture video, I think this is the worst tragedy captured on video that I’ve ever seen,” Crump said.
SlingShot Group and its attendants were permitted to not display a maximum weight requirement for patrons due to a “loophole” in Florida law. Sampson was allowed to ride on the drop tower despite the operator manual for FreeFall stating that the maximum passenger weight is just over 286 pounds. Sampson’s family and coaches have stressed the teen’s size, 6’5” and about 360 pounds, was far too heavy to have been allowed on the ride.
Florida statute 616.242 lists various safety standards for amusement rides, with one stating that operators must present “signs that advise or warn patrons of age restrictions, size restrictions, health restrictions, weight limitations, or any other special consideration or use restrictions” that may be harmful to ride-goers. The law adds the caveat, however, that such protocols should be enforced only if “required or recommended for the amusement ride by the manufacturer,” and, thereafter, “must be prominently displayed at the patron entrance of each amusement ride.”
The manufacturer’s operating manual for FreeFall only required the posting or open display of a height restriction, along with other limitations with ambiguous language such as “large people,” but no exact maximum weight was placed for patrons to see.
While a state ride safety inspector tries to figure out how a 14-year-old boy fell from seat number 31, WESH 2 Investigates uncovered key differences between this and similar "drop" rides.
On Free Fall, which is owned by Slingshot Group, there's no belt connecting the horn on the seat to the shoulder restraint.
By contrast, Dr. Doom's Fearfall at Universal Orlando does have belts.
At Free Fall's peak, riders are tilted forward, putting additional pressure on the safety harness as it drops.
But one expert we spoke with said ride design may not have played a role in this accident.
“They tend to be operator error … as the root cause,” Nathan MacDonald, a theme park and ride safety expert with Alpine Engineering & Design said.
He says most modern rides have one or two safety backups to prevent mishaps, but the one consistent theme in most accidents he's investigated: employees just weren't trained to ensure safety measures were in place.
“There's only so much that a designer can do. At the end of the day you really have to rely on the operator, operating the ride, properly,” MacDonald said.
Just last September, two workers at Glenwood Caverns' Mine Drop in Denver, were alleged to have forgotten to buckle 6-year-old Wongel Estifanos who fell from the seat to her death.
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