The father of a 14-year-old boy who passed away on Thursday after tragically falling from an Orlando amusement park ride is speaking out.
Tyree Sampson, a football player from St. Louis, Missouri, was visiting Orlando’s ICON Park on Thursday night with a football team when he fell off the FreeFall ride while it was in motion.
“When the ride took off, that’s when he was feeling uncomfortable. He was like, ‘This thing is moving.’ … That’s when he started freaking out,” the boy’s father, Yarnell Sampson, told FOX 35 Orlando. “He was explaining to his friends next to him … ‘If I don’t make it down … please tell my mom and dad I love them.’ For him to say something like that, he must’ve felt something.”
He went on to say that “this should never happen” to another child “ever again.” The 14-year-old “had a bright future,” according to his father. He was an “honor-roll student” who aspired to play in the National Football League.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sampson stood 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 330 pounds. His father stated that he intends to find out exactly what caused his son’s tragic death.