Teen who fell to his death from 430ft drop tower, too heavy for ride

A preliminary accident report into what caused a 14-year-old boy to fall to his death while on an amusement park ride in Orlando last week, has found that the locking mechanism on Tyre Sampson's seat working, but that the 350-pound teenager may have been too heavy for the ride.

Sampson fell to his death last Thursday from the FreeFall drop tower at ICON Park on International Drive, which sees riders hoisted 430 feet in the air before forcefully dropping them at speeds reaching 75mph, exerting massive G-forces in the process.

Sampson, who was known at Big Tick to his friends and was a rising middle school football player, appeared to come out of the seat just as magnets activated to slow the ride down on its descent.

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