Teenager that tragically died in Orlando

[Pointlesspolice]

I have just looked at the Daily Fail headlines and a 14 year old has fallen from a ride and sadly died . Absolutely shocking and the poor guy wasn’t properly strapped in …he was overweight and was probably too embarrassed to get assistance with his seatbelt.
I am absolutely sickened by the comments from people,racist and fat shaming…where do these vile people get their thoughts from ? I despair 😞

@Oysterbabe

I think his height played as much as a role as his weight. In one of the photos you can see the bar can't pull down and lock because his shoulders are too high. It's all irrelevant anyway, it's 100% the fault of those who designed and / or operated the ride. It is their responsibility to make sure its safe and to assess if someone can ride.

Agree, I don't even see how this can be up for debate.

I also don't understand why this type of ride didn't have a fabric clipper too to clip down between your legs and a backup incase the clicker stopped working. Also a test that if you can't clip it you probably need to get off for safety reasons then that way the staff aren't using initiative to check weight it's more black and white - and more obvious to the rider too.

I saw this today, absolutely bleary breaking for everyone involved. My thoughts are with his family and friends those poor people

The video may have been taken by a teen who didn't know the guy was dead and circulated the accident. There are millions of accident videos online. It is a pretty common thing to see.

I do think that anyone who realizes something is wrong should always speak up and kids should be taught to do so. Swiss cheese model where any one person saying or doing something can be preventative. When it comes to serious injury / death - it doesn't matter that whose responsibility it is. Anyone aware of anything off that could lead ot injury or death should speak up.

@HellToTheNope

His death is result of negligence. The ride operator should have checked and secured his harness and belt or if he/she deemed the boy unsafe in the seat they should have asked him to get off.

We have no proof that negligence was involved whatsoever. This boy could have taken the harness off himself. Stop spouting shit when you don't know all the facts.

What are you on about?? People can't just take the harness off themselves.

I think that person is just trying to wind people up.
Almost everyone knows that rides of that nature have locking harnesses/bars, that you can't remove by yourself, even if you've never been on one personally (like me).
So either that poster has been living under a rock for decades, or is on the wind-up.
Best ignored, really.

The only type of harness I've known to be able to opened after the ride has started is on the Pepsi max big one in Blackpool. They have a belt that's like an airplane belt and also a bar that comes down. I've went round on the ride and been able to open the belt but not the bar.

However I was last on the ride in 2010 so they may have changed the restraints.

I heard about this but didn't know that the poor guy was too big to be strapped in properly! How dreadful.

The harness may have been locked down. It was still high up when locked due to his size. He was pushed so far forward on the seat due to his size that I think he just slid out when it came to a sudden stop.

If anyone wants to see the ride but not the fall or Tyree on the ground, if you watch a US news report they have pixilated his face when the ride is on the ground and don't show the fall and again have pixilated the left of the screen.

Inastatus -- I spent a lot of time with 14 year olds lately, none of them was > 5'8" tall. Some of them are quite plump, being quite plump is ordinary. Being so tall, not so usual. thus, his height at such a young age is the thing that stood out to me as unusual.

I know 2 guys who are ~ 6'6". My uncle is 6'5" Elderly or middle aged white males -- don't need to be Afro-American to be 6'6". One of them used to be morbidly obese, maybe 450 lbs. Uncle probably was ~240 lbs.

Of all the sad deaths of 14 year olds that happened recently, this one isn't striking to me. At least it wasn't deliberate or even random violence. 6'6" at 14 years old -- now that is striking. Uncle was 6'2" at 14, had grown up always towering over his peers.

@lljkk

Inastatus -- I spent a lot of time with 14 year olds lately, none of them was > 5'8" tall. Some of them are quite plump, being quite plump is ordinary. Being so tall, not so usual. thus, his height at such a young age is the thing that stood out to me as unusual.

I know 2 guys who are ~ 6'6". My uncle is 6'5" Elderly or middle aged white males -- don't need to be Afro-American to be 6'6". One of them used to be morbidly obese, maybe 450 lbs. Uncle probably was ~240 lbs.

Of all the sad deaths of 14 year olds that happened recently, this one isn't striking to me. At least it wasn't deliberate or even random violence. 6'6" at 14 years old -- now that is striking. Uncle was 6'2" at 14, had grown up always towering over his peers.

Huh? The thing that 'strikes' you about this is the boys height, not his tragic death? What the hell are you getting at here. Bizarre and distasteful post.

I made one little comment about his height. There was plenty of talk here about the unusual way he died and I had nothing else to add to that. There were zillions of tragic deaths of 14 year olds in last week. Not so video'd but they happened, I'm sure. Anyway, I have nothing else original to say about tragic ways teenagers found to die last week.

The size of this kid, some people think is relevant to how he died. I did have something little-said to add about the size of the kid.

if you all want to add speculation, shock, horror, frustration -- that's fine. I only added a fact. I like facts.

It's not unusual for black teenagers to be taller than their counterparts of other ethnicities. Why bother commenting if you don't find it 'striking' that due to negligence of checks that would have taken a few seconds he lost his life.

@Midlifemusings how though? If it was closed properly it would have been between his legs and going over his shoulders. I can't see how he could slide out from that? Wouldn't his whole body have had to go through what was essentially the 'head hole'?

I am on an Orlando forum and someone suggested that it is a design flaw in how the harness works. The harness is usually used for rollercoasters and the g forces there work to keep you in and that the allowable tolerances for what is deemed a closed and safe restraint were not adjusted to take into account the way the Gs are exerted onto the rider between the ride types.

It tilts basically as it goes down the angle of tilt is a problem. Unlike a normal drop tower where you will be pushed into your seat or something like FF where the angle is so steep you will be pushed against your harness this is in between.

With this type of free fall ride, the rider will be forced upwards upon descent, then will rapidly come down and caught by the otsr and crotch restraint when the carriage hits the magnetic brakes due to rapid deceleration. Unfortunately due to the larger than normal gap because of body type and the seat being tilted there was nothing to keep him in place and stop him tragically I losing his life.

I have paraphrased the above but it makes sense to me and given that it only opened in December it makes sense

@Rockhopper81

The theme parks in Orlando - as in, Disney/Universal etc. - are very 'hot' on ride safety, and a lot of the rides that aren't universal rides (i.e. they have a height requirement) have test seats before the queue, and members of staff there will ask you to try the test seat before you join the queue, saying they "can't accommodate you today" if you don't fit or can't get the harness far enough down. These are generally stricter than the rides themselves, as they want to be doubly sure you'll be safe.

I can't speak for the more individual rides, as at Icon, other places on International Drive, and the 192 - I haven't been on them - but there's a number of 'super thrill' rides about that make Disney/Universal rides look tame. It will be interesting to see what comes of the investigation, as something has obviously gone catastrophically wrong here - whatever that is, a family are without someone today in tragic circumstances. It's horrific for them, and the people who witnessed it too - you don't forget seeing something like that.

Completely agree. And many of the staff in Disney/Universal are much older than teenagers in a summer job as they are year round operations. We visited once when my youngest was about 2cm taller than the minimum for certain rides, they checked him EVERY TIME and we regularly saw people being - politely and firmly - turned away.

At Universal one of our favourite rides was Dragon Challenge although I don't think that's there any more. They sat either 4 or 5 across a row. There were a couple of rows with fewer seats designed to accommodate larger people. Again, the staff politely and sensitively loaded the rides without singling people out but to make sure everyone was safe.

These are multinational organisations who trade on their reputation, safety above everything. Other independent rides or parks may not have the same standards.

@lljkk

I made one little comment about his height. There was plenty of talk here about the unusual way he died and I had nothing else to add to that. There were zillions of tragic deaths of 14 year olds in last week. Not so video'd but they happened, I'm sure. Anyway, I have nothing else original to say about tragic ways teenagers found to die last week.

The size of this kid, some people think is relevant to how he died. I did have something little-said to add about the size of the kid.

if you all want to add speculation, shock, horror, frustration -- that's fine. I only added a fact. I like facts.

Your whole post mentions height, it's not 'one little comment'. And your talk about all the apparent 14 year olds who've died this week is a beautiful example to whataboutery. Read the room.

@newgymmy

It doesn't go all the way down to the plastic. Maybe on kids but not on adults or adult sized people. I posted this video on a previous page but this is adults riding it when it was first constructed. You can see that the last guy in the video to ride it is a bigger guy (starts around 6:45). He too is pushed a little forward in the seat and actually repositions himself a couple times to get back farther in the seat. The chest bar goes nowhere near the plastic bump on the seat - bigger people are sitting on it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqyr0QuBjXQ

I found watching that video quite terrifying when it showed the third ride, the one with the larger guy on it.

The harness goes over his shoulders but where the plastic ends it is only resting on top of his belly button area. There is absolutely nothing keeping the entire lower half of his body secure in that chair. And the 14 year old was a lot bigger than the guy in this video so I can even imagine how the harness would have offered any protection.

From watching that video it is so, so easy to see how people of bigger builds could just slip out from under the harness and fall.

@PaddlingLikeADuck

I am sure that is what happened. I can't find the video of the investigator who sat in the seat and showed that the harness can be in a locked position very high up. Given Tyre's height and weight, the harness would have been very high up and angled out.

This news video uses a clip from the investigator video - you can see it at about 2:35 where they are pulling on the locked harness that is in what I assume is a similar position to what it would have been in on someone Tyre's size.

www.fox35orlando.com/news/deputies-state-inspectors-looking-how-14-year-old-fell-to-his-death-from-amusement-ride

I am sure that is what happened. I can't find the video of the investigator who sat in the seat and showed that the harness can be in a locked position very high up.

What does the term ‘locked in’ mean in relation to these seats and harnesses?

I would have thought that locked in meant the head harness was fully pulled down and making contact with the knob between the rider’s legs?

If the harness can only just reach over someone’s shoulders (because of their stature) and it is and pointing outwards instead of downwards, how can it be described as being ‘locked in’?

@PaddlingLikeADuck

It is locked as in it can't be pushed back up. None of these harnesses need to be in a certain position to lock. You push them down as far as they can go for each person and then they lock in whatever position that is. They click as you push them down. They should be pushed down until snug against the person.

Yes but what I don't understand is why there isn't a system where you physically cannot skip out . A seatbelt piece of fabric that clipped to the knob would solved the issue.

Even the girl at the beginning of the video is questioning why the ride doesn't have this and it was also my first thought - if you're being pushed downwards surely there should be something making it impossible/foolproof to slip through.

I also think people blaming the ride attendants are wrong. These people need no qualifications etc to do the job and are probably paid very little. The ride should be constructed in a foolproof way - not leaving the hands of peoples lives in the hands of minimum wage workers.

I also think people blaming the ride attendants are wrong. These people need no qualifications etc to do the job and are probably paid very little. The ride should be constructed in a foolproof way - not leaving the hands of peoples lives in the hands of minimum wage workers.

Absolutely.

There should have been defined weight and height limits to specify who can safely go on the ride as that decision shouldn’t be left to individual choices made by staff. There should be no grey areas when it comes to safety.

@PaddlingLikeADuck

I also think people blaming the ride attendants are wrong. These people need no qualifications etc to do the job and are probably paid very little. The ride should be constructed in a foolproof way - not leaving the hands of peoples lives in the hands of minimum wage workers.

Absolutely.

There should have been defined weight and height limits to specify who can safely go on the ride as that decision shouldn’t be left to individual choices made by staff. There should be no grey areas when it comes to safety.

This is all true, it can't be that difficult to build.