A 14-year-old Missouri boy who fell to his death from a 430-foot (130-meter) drop-tower ride in central Florida's tourist district appeared to slip out of his seat at the halfway mark of its plunge to the ground, according to a law enforcement report released Tuesday.
The father of a friend of Tyre Sampson who witnessed the March 24 accident told deputies that the teen appeared to fall out of his seat when plunging passengers on the Free Fall ride passed a yellow reflective tape halfway down the tower. The ride reaches speeds of 75 mph (120 kilometers), according to an Orange County Sheriff's Office incident report released through a public records request.
