I figure some if not most of you heard about this tragic case in Orlando where a kid fell off a ride and died. And I bet we all imagined and undersized kid who was allowed to ride and the security devices did not keep him in his seat.
And then this morning, the results of the autopsy were revealed.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — An autopsy says a Missouri teenager died of blunt force trauma after falling from a 430-foot Florida drop-tower amusement park ride.
The report Monday by the Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office also ruled that 14-year-old Tyre Sampson’s death in March was an accident.
Sampson slipped out of his seat about halfway down the Free Fall ride located in a tourist area of Orlando. Sampson was there with a friend’s family for vacation.
The autopsy also showed that Sampson, who played football in the St. Louis area, weighed 383 pounds when he died.
Autopsy: Tyre Sampson, 14, died of blunt trauma in Florida drop-tower ride death (wsmv.com)
What the f…? A 14 year old who was almost as heavy as I was when I started dieting? Holy shit, this guy never met a McDonalds that did not tackle with gusto
Sampson’s parents sued the ride’s owner, manufacturer and landlord in April, claiming they were negligent and failed to provide a safe amusement ride. They said in the lawsuit that their son was not warned about the risks of someone of his size going on the ride and was not provided an appropriate restraint system.
They are partially right in the sense that the ride owners should have not allowed somebody this fat on a ride that may have strained the safety systems developed for regular human beings. then again, if they denied the kid a ride, they would have been accused and maligned for being racist fatphobes or some woke crap like that.
And Child Services should investigate the parents for allowing their kid to reach such an unhealthy mass of body fat. I don’t give a rat’s ass what they say, allowing him to blow up like that is not proper parenthood.
And whatever feelings of sympathy I had because of the initial descriptions of the accident and the victim have evaporated because they plain lied by omission rather than telling me the straight facts. Backlash after finding out you lied is not a nice thing to happen to lying sacks of poor journalism.
I don’t have references handy but did read part of the report on this accident.
The restraining system had been modified or was not in correct working order. On purpose.
As designed a kid that big, or an adult, would not fit. The restraining system would not close.
The restraining system on one chair had been modified to allow big people to fit. That modification allowed for a body under acceleration to slip out.
So the ride operator is likely to lose in court because they didn’t discriminate based on size.
Yikes!
That first picture was me for years waiting to ride the bumper cars at Paragon Park at Nantasket Beach. 😢
I saw this comment by a former Disney Employee at Ann Althouse Blog.
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https://althouse.blogspot.com/2022/06/a-14-year-old-boy-who-fell-to-his-death.html
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First of all, two seats had recently – and without the knowledge or consent of the manufacturer – had their restraints modified, which would allow the locking mechanism’s sensor to register as “locked” with a much greater harness opening than had been designed and approved by the manufacturer. It has yet to come out who did the modification or who made the call (my theory is a maintenance worker would be the only one with the know-how, but was probably convinced somehow by some idiot upper/middle management person who either wanted to stop getting yelled at for turning away larger people, or wanted to be more “inclusive” by allowing heavier people on).
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Anyway, even with the additional space between the harness and the seat, that wouldn’t be an issue in and of itself – if the ride didn’t also tilt 30 degrees at the top for the ride down. There was essentially nothing holding that poor kid in once the seat tilted.
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The correct harness gap probably automatically weeded out anyone over the weight limit. Once someone ignorantly modified the harness, it allowed people above the weight limit on.
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I cannot vouch for the veracity of this. BUT This would explain how the ride killed someone after years of use.
Now that you’re part of the Thin Club, Miguel, you can join the rest of us in mocking the overweight. LOL!