The father of a young boy who died at a Florida theme park has spoken out and claimed his son had died because he was Black.
14-year-old Tyre Sampson died back in March after plunging 430 feet to his death from the Free Fall ride at ICON Park in Orlando.
Following the teenager’s tragic death, it has come to light that Tyre weighed 393 pounds and was allowed on the ride even though the weight limit is set at 287 pounds.
Furthermore, a report by the investigators hired by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services revealed that the size of the opening for restraints was two times what it should have been due to manual adjustment of sensors.
As the ride was high up in the air, the improperly restrained teenager slipped from his seat and plunged to his death.
Tyre’s grieving father, Yarnell Sampson, has now spoken out and claimed racism played a role in his son’s passing.
“I don’t want to use the race thing. But I believe that because my son is a black young man, he is getting treated like this. I believe if it was a European child, it would have been different,” he told the reporters outside ICON Park.
Sampson went on to pay a tribute to his 14-year-old son saying he was an excellent student and an aspiring football player who was looking forward to a bright future.
“Everything was lining up for him to be great. Plus he has talent. He could rap. He was a magician. He had a lot of other things besides football going for him, so why doesn’t his life matter?” he added.
Meanwhile, the grieving father’s attorney, Ben Crump, blasted the Orlando theme park for allegedly failing to keep up a memorial for Tyre at the site.
“They were supposed to erect a permanent memorial. There was no evidence that his son ever died here,” Crump said.
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