A drop tower ride at a Florida amusement park will be removed after a teen fell from it to his death in March, sparking public outrage and demands for the ride to be permanently shut down with the rollout of safety inspections.
The ride operator, Orlando Slingshot, said in a statement on Thursday that it decided to take down the 430-foot-tall FreeFall drop tower in response to 14-year-old Tyre Sampson's death on March 24.
The teen slipped out from his restraint during the ride and fell to his death, officials said in March, adding that an investigation into his death has been opened.
"We are devastated by Tyre's death. We have listened to the wishes of Tyre's family and the community, and have made the decision to take down the FreeFall," said Ritchie Armstrong, Orlando Slingshot's CEO, in the statement on Thursday. "In addition, Orlando Slingshot will honor Tyre and his legacy in the classroom and on the football field by creating a scholarship in his name."
The FreeFall ride opened in December at ICON Park, which also remembered Sampson, saying "Tyre's death is a tragedy that we will never forget."
"As the landlord, ICON Park welcomes and appreciates Orlando Slingshot's decision to take down the ride," said ICON Park.
No details were revealed about when exactly the ride will be taken down, but the company said that the timeline will be determined pending approvals of all involved parties and regulatory entities.
A petition circulated online after Sampson's accident on the FreeFall ride which was branded as a world-record-setting attraction and the world's tallest freestanding drop tower.
The Juneteenth Project Coalition launched a petition on Change.org demanding the permanent removal of the ride and the introduction of a Florida legislative bill that would ensure amusement ride companies "provide redundant seat belts and or harness for high speed/elevated amusement rides."
Meanwhile, the teen's family in April filed an ongoing lawsuit against Orlando Slingshot, ICON Park, the ride's manufacturers and installers following his death, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Newsweek reached out to ICON Park for comment.
Though fatal accidents at amusement parks happen, they are rare. The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) noted in 2018 that the chances of being critically injured on a fixed-site ride at an amusement park in the United States are 1:17 million rides, according to a study on the global incidence of theme park and amusement ride accidents from the same year published on Science Direct.
Several amusement park incidents happened across the country in 2021. A 47-year-old woman died in Indiana in June 2021 after riding The Voyage, a wooden roller coaster at the Holiday World & Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus.
A teen from Tennessee was seriously injured during the same month after getting caught under the Branson Coaster ride in Missouri while he was getting off the ride's vehicle, leading to its temporary closure.
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