Technician claims he warned of Free Fall ride dangers

A former maintenance technician has sued a Florida amusement park, claiming he warned about safety problems with a free-fall ride before a teenager fell to his death in 2022. Tyre Sampson, 14, was visiting from Missouri when he fell from the HEIGHT and suffered fatal injuries. The lawsuit was filed by Austin Campbell-Alexander, who worked at ICON Park. He claims he noticed issues with the ride's seats and structure in January 2022 and reported them to his supervisors. Campbell-Alexander alleges that the ride's safety features were improperly adjusted to accommodate heavier riders. The ride was designed to have a weight limit of 285 pounds. However, Sampson weighed 383 pounds, and a report indicated he was not secured properly because adjustments made to the ride altered restraint openings. Campbell-Alexander claims he raised his safety concerns multiple times, but the ride continued to operate despite these warnings. After Sampson's death, Campbell-Alexander was called in for questioning and allegedly asked to falsify maintenance logs. He claimed he opposed this and was then put on leave, later being terminated. His lawsuit accuses the park of prioritizing profits over safety and seeks over $50,000 in damages. Sampson's family had previously reached settlements with the ride’s operators and won a significant award against the ride's manufacturer in 2023. The ride has since been removed from the amusement park. An attorney for the ride's operators disputed Campbell-Alexander's claims, suggesting that his actions contributed to the incident and asserting that they cooperated fully with investigations.