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Original poster

Teenager that tragically died in Orlando

278 replies

Pointlesspolice · 25/03/2022 20:59

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 😞

OP posts:
ohCARP · 26/03/2022 11:30

@SophieSoSo

Is this the light people are referring to? It’s on in this photo?
If you watch the video (there's a cropped one that cuts out before he falls) you can see that as it goes up the light goes off and you can see his seat with no light on as the ride goes up and spins around and the top. It's the only seat with no light.
PaddlingLikeADuck · 26/03/2022 11:43

If you watch the video (there's a cropped one that cuts out before he falls) you can see that as it goes up the light goes off and you can see his seat with no light on as the ride goes up and spins around and the top. It's the only seat with no light.

See I thought this, but on the unlit seat it doesn’t look like anyone is actually sitting in it?

On allthe other seats with people in you can see their legs dangling down and them moving their legs and feet etc but I couldn’t see this in the chair with no light, or the chairs next to it, I.e where his friends would have been sat.

It may just be my eyes though?

Quartz2208 · 26/03/2022 11:50

So if his light was off why didnt the ride stop? For such a brand new and frankly clearly dangerous ride these things should be in place. Either to stop or to flash to make someone stop.

And if the park are employing people who arent properly trained that is on them

ohCARP · 26/03/2022 11:58

@PaddlingLikeADuck

If you watch the video (there's a cropped one that cuts out before he falls) you can see that as it goes up the light goes off and you can see his seat with no light on as the ride goes up and spins around and the top. It's the only seat with no light.

See I thought this, but on the unlit seat it doesn’t look like anyone is actually sitting in it?

On allthe other seats with people in you can see their legs dangling down and them moving their legs and feet etc but I couldn’t see this in the chair with no light, or the chairs next to it, I.e where his friends would have been sat.

It may just be my eyes though?

No, I think you're right actually.

I suppose regardless of if someone was in that seat or not, if the light wasn't on the ride shouldn't have started.

Hasselhoffsheadband · 26/03/2022 12:01

The video of that poor child's death is now being used as click bait on Twitter for all sorts of stuff.

I despair of humans sometimes, I really do.

PaddlingLikeADuck · 26/03/2022 12:12

I suppose regardless of if someone was in that seat or not, if the light wasn't on the ride shouldn't have started.

Unless it was a faulty chair? And the staff already knew about it so it was normal/expected that the light would be off?

I just cannot believe that the ride would be allowed to continue if that light was off and it was unexpected by staff.

I think ultimately it will come down to the fact that he was too big to be on the ride, (as he’d been for some other rides at the park and therefore not allowed on) and the fault will lie with whoever didn’t take that into consideration.

That may be the person who was letting people on to the ride for not considering whether his build meant he wasn’t safe to be on the ride, or it may be the fault of the designers/creators for not having a specified upper height and weight limit for passengers that staff should be aware of.

ImInStealthMode · 26/03/2022 12:21

The stuff of absolute nightmares. I love rides and rollercoasters but the older I get the more I worry about things like this, in fact I won't go on a head collar ride now unless it also has the back up system of clipping to the base of the seat with a seat belt thing.

I'm quite slight and I remember once at Alton Towers (Oblivion) getting the person who checks fixings to put his foot up on the bottom of my head collar and really make sure it was as tight as it would possibly go (it's easier to push it in further once someone's already in the seat than it is to try and pull it in yourself).

Thoughts with the boy, his family and everyone who has to witness this - except the ghouls sharing it on Twitter obviously.

BertieBotts · 26/03/2022 12:31

It doesn't matter for what reason a rider is unsafely harnessed, the burden should never be on the rider to determine that or speak up as many will not, it doesn't matter if it's due to embarrassment or bravado or any other reason - psychologically we tend to be primed to "not want to make a fuss".

Safety checks are often overlooked once somebody is too used to doing them - complacency sets in. You see it in these accidents over and over again - safety training is too far apart or managers are impatient, spot checks not done.

Also, a theme park ride doesn't feel like a life threatening activity in the same way as say a scuba dive or parachute jump or bungee jump would. Despite the fact they are very similar in some ways.

The park staff are responsible but what will likely later come out is how far up the chain it goes - it should be utterly clear to the ride attendants that it's the guests' lives in their hands but sometimes that is not clear for whatever reason.

Quartz2208 · 26/03/2022 12:59

For a ride though that is not even 3 months old yet there should be no broken light, no complacency etc. For me with such a young ride to have an accident of this magnitude means it should go fairly high up the chain

ILoveYou3000 · 26/03/2022 13:01

@chaosrabbitland

it does sound horrifying indeed , i can tell from the poor quality of the photo if he was strapped in or not properly , but obviously the park failed badly in not checking if he was . it does say he had been turned away from other rides because of his weight , but they just waved him onto this one , sadly from what his friend has said the lad appeared to know he wasnt strapped in properly and yet didnt get off , its such a shame he didnt just have the confidence to just get up and walk away from it
Perhaps he was waiting for someone to come over and check, as that's what usually happens, but no one did. Once the ride started what else could he do?

Absolutely horrific to think of how much fear he must have been in. That poor boy.

Luckymummytoone · 26/03/2022 13:57

Poor boy, my heart breaks 😓 the absolute fear he must have felt. Rip ❤️

LetsGoFlyAKiteee · 26/03/2022 14:12

Makes it worse knowing that on the way up he knew something was wrong. If been a fault with the restraints and it popped open on the dowb fall then still been horrible but wouldn't have known for so long.The fact its reported he made comments saying it didn't feel right as the ride was going up...

And all it would've taken from sounds is a proper check! He wasn't allowed on other rides so if this one was going to be a issue he would no doubt have been told. As it sounds he wasn't checked to make sure it was secure.. urgh. Hopefully it won't all be brushed under. Poor boy..and his poor family

Fizbosshoes · 26/03/2022 14:19

I can't bear thinking how frightened he must have been and (I'm sorry this sounds so awful) I sort of assumed it would be over very quickly and he probably would have died instantly but its even worse reading that he suffered fatal injuries but was still alive. Sad

AuntViv · 26/03/2022 14:26

I watched the first part of the video but couldn't bear to watch the fall and as they are starting to go up, you hear someone say about checking the seatbelts for those on the left side.

It's just a needless death and makes me so sad. For all we know the attendant did check before the filming begun, surely he didn't just not check at all.

I love rides but I do always worry things like this will happen. It just takes one malfunction or someone not checking thoroughly to turn into something like this.

Mumofsend · 26/03/2022 14:46

How awful. I get really put off rides as I'm rather skinny and move around in the harnesses a lot. They don't feel very safe.

The responsibility lies either with the person who didn't check or the system check fail safe that failed/wasn't designed correctly.

Mumofsend · 26/03/2022 14:48

And perhaps there should be an emergency alarm button on these sorts of rides to alert the ground for if there is an issue. I can't imagine the fear of knowing there was no way of stopping it

Hotelhelp · 26/03/2022 14:49

@ImInStealthMode I really can't picture what you mean when you say head collar?

daisychainsandrainbows · 26/03/2022 14:58

@Smileyaxolotl1

The people saying he wasn’t overweight. That is rubbish. He was very clearly morbidly obese with an enormous stomach. The fact is that if he was normal sized he would not have died as the restraint would have worked. This is the third similar incident I can think of in America. One similar one with a large person where the bar didn’t click and another with a double amputee who should never have been allowed to ride as the restraints held legs in place. None of these were the victims fault but denying the cause is not helpful to prevention. Similarly the examples given where thin people were at risk. Ride operators need to be trained better to be competent and confident to reject riders who will be unsafe on the ride. Unfortunately some people (not suggesting it is the case with this boy) try to break the rules. I was horrified seeing people trying to get their clearly 5cm too short children on rides at Thorpe park once.
What a vile post. His size was likely the reason the harness didn't fit, the CAUSE of his death was the ride operator failing to do their job and identify this. What victim blaming shite.
trainnane · 26/03/2022 15:41

I'm terrified of these huge rides that push and push the boundaries of safety. Manned by teenagers on low wages. Needless. The video is awful but might stop and make a lot of people think about these things

Smileyaxolotl1 · 26/03/2022 15:45

daisychainandrainbows
I appreciate that reading clearly isn’t a talent of yours but I specifically stated that it wasn’t the persons fault.
Just because the truth here is awkward doesn’t mean it should be ignored.

Aprilx · 26/03/2022 16:03

@Smileyaxolotl1

daisychainandrainbows I appreciate that reading clearly isn’t a talent of yours but I specifically stated that it wasn’t the persons fault. Just because the truth here is awkward doesn’t mean it should be ignored.
You might not have used those exact words, but it certainly is what you said. You should be ashamed of yourself.

He shouldn’t have been allowed on the ride, it didn’t suit his height or body shape. But he didn’t die because he was tall and of a larger build, he died because the proper procedures where either not in place or were not followed. Do you not see the difference in that and what you have said?

BobLep0nge · 26/03/2022 16:04

People are curious, it's human nature for some to seek these sort of things out? Why does any site exist. Gore has always been popular. Same with True Crime videos/crime scene photos. It's human nature

I've had a look at that site and it's a proper snuff site-videos of torture, beheadings, young girls beaten and set on fire.
I can't believe such a site is legal. It appears you have pay a member fee too, so @PinaColada123456 pays to watch torture/murder videos. Abhorrent.

BobLep0nge · 26/03/2022 16:06

(The first paragraph was supposed to be boldes as a quote!)

daisychainsandrainbows · 26/03/2022 16:11

@Smileyaxolotl1

daisychainandrainbows I appreciate that reading clearly isn’t a talent of yours but I specifically stated that it wasn’t the persons fault. Just because the truth here is awkward doesn’t mean it should be ignored.
I can read perfectly well thank you but maybe you should check what you wrote again. Yes you said it wasn't their fault. You completely contradicted that by saying he wouldn't have died if he wasn't so overweight and that we can't deny the cause of the accident being his weight Hmm

His weight was not the cause of the accident, the complete failings of the staff and theme park were the cause of the accident. It's like saying women who go out at night and get attacked weren't at FAULT but they did CAUSE what happened to happen and they'd never have been attacked if they hadn't gone out at night in the first place. As I said, victim blaming shite.

Firefly1987 · 26/03/2022 16:31

I saw the light was not on one of the chairs going up but it looked like it was on when he fell although it's hard to tell. He does look like he's trying to pull the harness down quite a bit before the ride starts whilst the attendant is talking to the other group. Maybe he thought he's gonna come and check any minute but then the ride starts...