Family awarded $310 million payout from obese son's tragic amusement park death

I remember when they posted the video of this accident and the loud PLOP sound when his body made contact with the concrete pavement.

I wonder how much of the legal fees go to the lawyers ?

How did the jury decide on $310M ?

“Gee, I dunno… let’s just say one million dollars a pound and call it a day.”

R2 Between 33 and 40% as a rule.

Poor kid.

Whew lawd, that's a fat chile.

Shame on you ALL!!! I hope you are haunted by this!!!

Very sad, op. This reminds me of the little boy who was decapitated on a slide in an amusement park.

Thoughtsh and prayersh to the shampshon family

I remember this....because of the name Tyre.

310 million seems like an absurd amount. I could see 10 or 15M but 310?

I betcha the family is going to take that money and set up a scholarship fund in Tyre's name, for underprivileged kids who want the best education. I just know they will do that ! It's want Tyre would want.

R311 They’ll never get that amount.

We shouldn't be rewarding terrible parenting and bad lifestyle choices.

How much will they get?

He was age 14 and weighed 360 pounds.

R14 Exactly. Where were his parents or guardians telling him not to get on the ride because he was past the weight limit ? It was a tragedy bound to happen, and they should be held responsible - not rewarded.

Whatever amount another judge decides or the family agrees to settle for after the amusement park’s insurer appeals the award.

Would they have also sued if the kid had been denied a seat on the ride for being too obese?

Mama will still have the 39K her GoGriftMe has raised.

What was weird was the bar that goes down between the legs, trapping the body, wasn't up after the fall. His massive body squeezed wrough a smallish Gap. He must have been terrified when the knew he wasn't staying in the seat and he must have really sufferred pain getting smooshed through the gap. And THEN the fall to ground. And he wasn't dead. after he hit.

Why didn’t the attendant lock the seat? Since when are these rides self-service?

I have no comment...

The seat WAS LOCKED. But it was locked in a half-assed way. It wasn't fully lowered over his fat torso. It wasn't the kind of seat that actually fastened between the crotch, to the seat. it just lowered to the crotch level but the locking mechanism was high, above and behind the shoulders. His massive weight problem enlarged the gap and he slipped through. His body mwas probably damaged from that, even before the free fall.

[quote]An inspection showed that sensors used to activate safety lights on the two seats, indicating the harness safety restraints were in place, had been adjusted to allow for the wider openings. The safety lights on Sampson's seat and on the ride's control panel were illuminated; if they hadn't been, the ride would not have started

Apparently his seat wasn't fully locked, to accommodate his morbid obesity, but the sensors were manually overridden to allow the ride to start.

I remember he had been told no on several other rides at the park before he was able to get on to this ride. I remember the video and it looked like teenagers were operating the ride.

He weighed 383 pounds, according to his autopsy. The maximum weight limit for the ride was 287 pounds.

Obesity pays

The mother should have been charged with child abuse for allowing him to be that massively obese.

R16 wow he was only 14. He was over the ride’s weight limitation and his fasteners manually adjusted. This theme park deserves to be sued.

383 pounds at 14 years old ? I can only imagine the torment he went through at school. How horrific.

310 million dollars. A million for every pound he weighed.

When standing in gravity solidly goes wrong.

I agree that his parents should feel shitty for letting the kid get that unhealthy but I feel really sad for the boy - 14 brief years of life, probably most of them miserable and picked on, and his horrible violent death becomes a punchline. There's nothing worth laughing about here

[quote]I betcha the family is going to take that money and set up a scholarship fund in Tyre's name, for underprivileged kids who want the best education.

Mama's gonna eat her way through all that cash.

Yes everyone must feel wrecked. The ride operators, the park, the parents, the witnesses, the hospital staff. Teens are too young to be operators of such rides. They don't have mature risk assessment faculties in their brains.

For the record in case the math wizards out there dazzled you, Tyres' idiot family raked in a bounty of $809,399.48 per pound.

Except you know he weighed more than that before he was ground-schnitzeled and who knows how much of his fat globs ended up on tent roofs, burger grills, cotton candy spinners, funnel cake carbonizers and tots' soft-serve cones.

I guess you could say the family ended up with a Flat Tyre.

That verdict will not stand.

R39. You're 100% right. They'll get a couple of million but that's it.

Americans are obese. Mounjoro is the cure.

How the fuck does a teenaged boy get that fat?

Lort! That’s enormous.

Didn't some girl also have her feet chopped off on one of these rides?

You guys are so nasty. This kid was only 14.

They can afford to buy their own amusement park now.

…for obese kids. Free snack pack with every admission.

So the liability is for letting him on the ride?

Black live matters !

Imagine being one of the teenagers who didn't do their job properly that night? I'd fucking hate having that on my conscience for the rest of my life.

I’m surprised this didn’t happen at one of those cheap traveling carnivals

how i gonna get rich? ima raise me a fat child and take them to an amusement pork

If memory serves, Muriel nuked most of the threads on this story because posters were flagrantly racist.

Anyone, he died a horrific death. The speculation here at least was that as soon as the seats tipped forward at the top of the ride, he started to panic because he knew his restraint wasn't secure. He told the friends with him, "Tell my parents I love them." In the video, he is shown wildly kicking his legs on the way down: he was trying desperately to hold on and stay in his seat. I can't muster any snark for this one. And what teenager really has the presence of mind to admit -- in front of friends, no less -- he is too scared to ride a ride because of his weight? It's a terrible story all around.

r49 it wasn't the teens' fault, really (although they may blame themselves for his death: it would certainly haunt me). The ride itself had been modified to allow for larger riders (despite the manufacturer's warnings). The kids operating the ride did everything they were supposed to. Someone higher up dropped the ball.

Yes, r47

A few years back, my sister took her two kids to a local water park which has some amusement rides. There's a kiddy coaster. She lines up in the blazing sun, waits about an hour, finally gets to the front of the queue and her and the kids get into a carriage. The kids sit together on one side, facing her. The teenage attendant comes along and pushes the overhead bars down into place over their laps. My sister sucks her breath in for dear life, mortified that she barely fits in this coaster. The ride begins and off they go. Before you know it, the bar "locking" her in has come loose and she's holding it down with all her might, thanking her lucky stars that it's a shitty little kiddy coaster and not anything with loops. They finish the ride in one piece, and as she gets off she sees this tiny little sign saying no riders over 100kg. She's pushing 120 on a light day.

My point us, she was fucking lucky. Ride operators are generally poorly trained teens who don't have the authority let alone confidence to tell patrons that they're too big to ride. Poor Tyre, embarrassed though he would have been, would still be alive if they required you to step on a set of scales before you ride. They enforce height restrictions, it's about time they got tougher with weight too.

r55 he had been turned away from other rides earlier in the day

Dearly beloved we have a tourist at r44.

[quote]Imagine being one of the teenagers who didn't do their job properly that night? I'd fucking hate having that on my conscience for the rest of my life.

Imagine being this kid’s horrid mother who fed him McDonald’s for every meal of his life until he weighed almost FOUR HUNDRED POUNDS at age 14. Lock that bitch up. He was well on his way to having a massive heart attack before he finished high school.

They will blow that money in a couple of years on cars and jewelry and crap

I hate posters like r58/r59.

They're not witty. They're not insightful. They add nothing but not-so-subtle trolling.

phat

At least he wasn’t as fat as Kate Winslet.

Baby Phat

If only you could sue foreign factions.

R53 that is not clear. I understood that the modifications were done before the individual ride, to suit a fat individual. The entire ride was NOT modified.

Someone that fat shouldn't have even been allowed into the park. Leaving it up to the teens running every single ride to tell him "no, you're too fat" isn't fair to them.

Black life splattered

Imagine being racist R48 and unable to even correctly spell your slur.

[quote] I remember when they posted the video of this accident and the loud PLOP sound when his body made contact with the concrete pavement.

R1 And... you did not post said video? Why? This is DL who would have enjoyed it.

Imagine being an unfunny cunt, R68, and feeling the need to share that fact with us.

R44. Yes, he was 14 and weighed what three kids that age COMBINED should weigh. Get off your fucking high horse. In most communities, children that age have already had a health class and years of P.E. There's no excuse.

A million years ago, in the summer before I started college, I worked at a small, local amusement park.

Let me tell you, the fucking abuse I had to deal with from drinks, idiots and assholes who saw the tide rules posted at all points along the ride, but thought if they waited “that long” they “deserved” to ride.

No matter how fat, short, underage, drunk or half naked. They would throw a fit. Calling security was hit or miss. On Saturday after dark, they were usually elsewhere breaking up drunk fights.

The people who show up to these things think they paid, so they should be allowed to ride- even if it’s unsafe.

I’d be interested to know if big boy or his Moma had words with the ride operators about letting him ride despite his obesity.

Honestly, times like this, we NEED to fat shame people. Maybe this kid would still be alive.

There should be a scale and mandatory weigh-in at the entrance to the park.

I'm surprised at the amount of the payout, but the park really should pay IMO. They never should have let him on since he was over the limit. And not fastening a rider correctly would be reason for any patron to sue, no matter their size.

When he landed, was it like an exploded pinata? Did candy bars, gum, and Jolly Ranchers fly out?

[quote]When he landed, was it like an exploded pinata?

It was like a blown out tyre.

R47 yes he was 14. Yall are saying this shit because he big and black and not so good looking. If he was cute and slim and died in a freak accident like a water slide, there would be sympathy. Some of yall are so fucking ignorant. It doesn’t matter that the family didn’t practice a healthy diet and are big as houses. He was way too big for that ride. Furthermore they had to override the automatic lock out because the ride wouldn’t start because his seat was not fully secure. The theme park was completely negligent.

My first thought when reading this was of the little girl who lost her legs on a ride 20 years ago. "She" even posted here under an authenticated name. Ah, sweet memories. God times!

R78 appropriate for Sunday.

R77. Get bent, Teafake. Stop making this a race thing...even when you shouldn't be discussing anything about race yourself.

Poor kid.

Speaking of falling from heights, whatever happened to cruise ship grandpa?

Fuck off, r80. The racist trolls have been all over this story since it broke in 2022.

What does get bent mean?

I bet there were body fluids splatted all over everybody, do they call Serve Pro in this case?

[quote]"She" even posted here under an authenticated name.

Six Flags Girl

I saw kids including myself skirt the height requirements all the time at the amusement parks, fairs and carnivals I went to. Wear a hat but don’t push it down or stand on your toes, but most of the time they just let us through.

Surely they will appeal ?

Nobody’s saying the park wasn’t negligent, r77. But $310 million ??!! The amount of that award is insane. Even in death cases, there has to be a reasonable limit. Plus, there's a feeling that the mom is being rewarded for allowing the unhealthy weight that contributed to her boy's accident.

R88 the latter is irrelevant. I don’t know about this theme park and what entity actually owns it but usually the compensation amount is linked to a company’s net worth as well as the loss or tragedy that occurred. Them being unhealthy fuck has nothing to do with this. You don’t allow a child to be placed on a ride and then have employees override a built in safety feature. You don’t allow teenagers to completely operate your business with no adults around. He is a fucking a child. If he looked like Harry Potter at 14 we wouldn’t be having this debate.

Two separate issues r89– (1) liability; and the (2) amount of compensation. Nobody's doubting liability, but questioning the amount.

Net worth of the defendant is irrelevant unless plaintiff has established peculiar circumstances warranting punitives. Which may have occurred in this case, although amusement park injuries and fatalities are so common it seems unlikely.

Unless the park's attorney totally fucked up, the award is unlikely to stand as is. The trial court or an appeal court can knock it down to something less stratospheric. Still tragic though.

R90 I see I see. Also I’ve learned that this park is not a typical theme park. It’s open access and all the rides and attractions are owned by different companies. There is also a Madam Toussiants museum there. So the family actually sued the manufacture of the freefall ride which is now closed.

I hope that haunts you, R62.

I do feel bad for the teenagers who let him on the ride. What if they were sensitive souls who were afraid to hurt his feelings by denying him access to the ride? And now they will be forever haunted by this incident and the fact they helped contribute to Tyre's demise.

As said, it would be legally shocking if this jury verdict stands. Of course, you shouldn’t put a $ value on a life but lawsuits do it all the time in wrongful deaths, usually based on future earnings and monetary loss to the survivors. It has to be based on something. The family had no expectation of long term financial support from a child. Surviving victims of accidents actually collect more than dead ones because of the calculable lifetime medical care and actual physical pain and suffering.

Anyone remember that psychotic stripper with the stupid looking oversized sunglasses who was on the news pretending to be his cousin at the time?

R95 😂 what.

Amateur!

His parents failed him by allowing him to be obese at such a young age. I hate them.

[quote]Of course, you shouldn’t put a $ value on a life but lawsuits do it all the time in wrongful deaths, usually based on future earnings and monetary loss to the survivors. It has to be based on something. The family had no expectation of long term financial support from a child

Exactly. How much could this 400 pound teenager’s future earnings be worth? He was likely to be dead or disabled from chronic disease before age 20. The amount of this verdict will not stand.

[quote]Anyone remember that psychotic stripper with the stupid looking oversized sunglasses who was on the news pretending to be his cousin at the time?

I feel like this is so obvious that it doesn't need to be said but the 310 million is for the emotional distress of having one's kid die violently. Do you people really not get that? Imagine a scenario where your favorite family member falls from a great height and splatters like a fucking melon. If that happened to one of my siblings then I would want at least 50 billion before I started to feel better.

Imagine how much money they’re saving on junk food alone now. They don’t need $310 mil.

Not funny, r102. I hope you get hit by a bus today. Fingers crossed.

His upper body was so unusually massive … the laws of physics kicked in fast on that ride with him not fully secured. The poor kid had no chance.

Where were the parents or guardians on this day in question ? Are they really allowing a bunch of 14 year olds to run around on their own at an amusement park with no supervision ?

[quote]I feel like this is so obvious that it doesn't need to be said but the 310 million is for the emotional distress of having one's kid die violently. Do you people really not get that?

Agree. Lots of victim blaming going on. This was someone's child.

[quote]the 310 million is for the emotional distress of having one's kid die violently.

One or two million is enough.

I'm sure it's a whole family of chair-breakingly FAT people.

Where might one see the footage of this?

R101 r106 Excellent point about distress for loss of a child, and courts limit emotional distress damages in some way to account for it, see below. Some states require the family member to have witnessed the accident in order to qualify for emotional distress damages for a wrongful death, and to be an immediate family member. Some states tie recovery to loss of financial support by the deceased (which wouldn’t apply in Tyre’s case, since he was only 14).

Otherwise, emotional distress $$ would be astronomical in every single wrongful death case, just for negligence (which is accidental, not purposeful). This avoids distorting the tort & insurance liability system so that liability ins remains available and plaintiffs can continue to recover for loss caused by negligence. Doubtless, the ins lobby has been active in shaping damages law in every state.

In Tyre's case, neither parent was present. The family had already received settlement money from the park, and this trial was against the Austrian manufacturer of the ride, a much deeper pocket possibly. Emotional distress damages might’ve been nominal, and the rest was punitive, due to some defect the manufacturer knew about but refused to correct. Speculation only.

R100 😂 Lawd. Where they do that at. That woman is a whole garbage can.

R101 It’s only because he is big people can’t see the humanity in him. I’m sure some of these racists are thinking these people hit the “ghetto lottery”. It’s sad. Yes his health was likely to suffer from being that big. What does that have to do with negligence. Average to lower iq people just don’t grasp certain things. He didn’t deserve to die so violently so young. And his weight only affected his demise only in the sense of negligence. If someone is too short for a ride and falls out or is injured, it’s the same thing.

It will be reduced on appeal.

They let him on the ride because the workers didn’t want to seem racist.

Its now considered racist to say that black people are overweight or obese.

His last words were tell my mom and dad I love them. Very sad. R114 is a troll and I bet money he doesn’t know the race, age, or gender of the employees working that night.

[quote]Where were the parents or guardians on this day in question ? Are they really allowing a bunch of 14 year olds to run around on their own at an amusement park with no supervision ?

He was 14. I remember "running around" with no supervision at Kings Island and Cedar Point at 11 and 12.

I'm so confused about this. The ride manufacturer is the one that got the massive judgement against them, not the park, right? Any lawyers in here who can explain this? It sounds like the negligence was with the park, not the ride.

There were prob at least two named defendants r117, including the park AND the ride manufacturer. The park settled with Tyre's parents for an undisclosed amount $$, in exchange for being dismissed before trial.

That left the ride manufacturer, an Austrian company, as the remaining defendant at trial.

Thanks, r118, but I'm confused as to what they are liable for? They were clear about the weight limitations and it sounds like the operator had overridden safety controls. On the other hand. I've been to Vienna's Wiener Prater park and there's some rides there that would get sued out of existence in the US, so it tracks.

^^^ the theory of liability against the ride manufacturer would have been something like negligent design of the ride. I’m not sure if strict liability for defective product would in US state law apply in this case but it might’ve.

There might have been other named defendants but the Austrian manufacturer was the one that got hit.

PS R119 if strict liability applied it would matter what the instructions said. The ride should have been designed so safety controls couldn’t have been overrididden, etc etc That would also be true for plain negligent design/manufacture.

Just guessing, bc we don’t know exactly what went wrong.

Thanks for this. I just couldn't draw a line here and needed an expert.

^^^ would NOT matter, I mean

[quote]He was 14. I remember "running around" with no supervision at Kings Island and Cedar Point at 11 and 12.

I remember those days, too - 40 and 50 years ago. Those were the days when kids could get off a school bus without monitors getting off with you and traffic stopping in every direction so you could cross the street safely. Those were the days when you could ride your bike without a helmet and knee pads strapped on you. Cigarette smoking was allowed in public places - no one protected kids from 'second hand smoke'. No kid wore a seat belt in the car.

But times are different from back then, and America has become 'kid safety centric'. Parents have had to step up and be more vigorous in protecting their children - including at an amusement park.

r124 this was in the mid-1990s, not 40 or 50 years ago. (30, but still before the advent of ubiquitous cell phones.)

And in 2024, I doubt many 14-year-olds are going on rides at these amusement parks accompanied by their parents. Most of them are probably there on school trips.

R125 "There on school trips" = with guardians. In our school system, one guardian is required for every five students, otherwise no school trip. If they don't have enough adults volunteering, the trips are canceled. SOMEONE should have been watching him and his little group.

My apologies to you - 30 years ago you were 14. And 30 years ago the 'kid safety centric' were still very different than what it is today (or the past five years).

You're missing the point, r126. What exactly are the guardians supposed to do? Accompany the minors to all rides?

R127 Seriously ? You're asking what is the responsibility of a guardian accompanying kids on a school trip ? Geez - you're part of the problem.

Given that r126, r128, et al, is also r12, final verdict is: TROLL.

R55, your sister wasn't lucky, she was very stupid. She was the adult in the situation. She should have known that as an obese adult, she should not be on the kiddie ride. Having to suck in her gut for dear life to fit on the ride should have been a bit of a hint to get her fat ass off the ride. Don't blame the "poorly trained" teen workers, blame your dumb, fat sister.

R129 sees sarcasm (not the mark of a troll) in R12 and valid points in the other two posts.

It is, however, very much a troll's gambit to accuse other posters of being trolls.

So the evidence is R129 is a TROLL!

r131 also gave us:

[quote]Except you know he weighed more than that before he was ground-schnitzeled and who knows how much of his fat globs ended up on tent roofs, burger grills, cotton candy spinners, funnel cake carbonizers and tots' soft-serve cones.

Can Muriel nuke this thread, too?

Yes, I did. As a response to the over-the-top carnage invoked.

Plus, you poor little misplaced scold, this is the DL.

Take your grief porn to church. You are THE problem here, R132 et al.

In other words, go splat somewhere, racist censor.

And since you like the chase, R132 et al., here's one of your sad contributions. So you're an illiterate cunt, too, huh?

[quote]I had two baby molars that never fell out because I didn't have adult teeth to replace them. (It's a not uncommon genital condition.) Anyway, around 25, one of the baby molars started to decay and they had to pull it. Ditto the other molar when I hit 30. I'm 41 now, never got implants and my teeth never shifted.

Teeth in your genitals? Are you a fat tard?

You're ALL cunts!

^^^WE KNOW! AND DAMN PROUD OF IT! You must be new to Datalounge

I belly laughed multiple times reading this thread thanks to you CUNTS

Cunt is one thing, racist cunt or chaos agent cunt is quite another.

R117 Icon park is not a typical theme park. There is no admission fee. I’m guessing the state owns it. It’s like a downtown area built like a theme park with attractions and rides. It’s all open access and all the attractions separately owned. I said manufacture but I’m guessing each attraction hires the employees.

With my cousins or my friends, we ran around small amusement parks in New England in our teens, for example at 14. There was no need for an adult chaperone watching every ride we got on. They were there, but not walking us on leashes. 1970s.

R140 Exactly. In the early aughts we were running around Six Flags America with no adult supervision at 12 and 13.

I did it in the 80's, too. And lots of these Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks are basically pre and early teen child minder services in the summer for the cost of a season pass.

My school's 8th grade trip every year was to Rye Playland. Once you got off the bus, you were on your own, especially the guys, until it was time to go home.

There are other stories aren't there? He is not the only fat person to fall from the sky at an amusement park .

Betcha 1 million bucks that :

1. Mama has 4 other kids just as morbidly obese. ADD ( all different dads).

2. Mama is 3rd or 4th generation public assistance recipient.

3. Mama and 4 other kids all have poorly managed endocrine, cardiac and muscle/skeletal issues due to reluctance to follow standard medical protocol for diet and exercise.

4. Mama and her immediate family members have a significant criminal history , mostly theft .

5. Mama belongs to an AME congregation that will demand their cut of the lawsuit proceeds so the pastor and first lady can get matching Lexus SUVs necessary to save souls.

R145 Racists ass idiot. What the fuck does that have to do with a negligent service provided. And you just assume she is a welfare recipient. So fucking ignorant.

Almost, R144. I really feel bad for this kid and hate myself for laughing, but Frau Janice is so fucking oblivious to the poor boy's plight.

I didn’t realize he was 6’5” tall. How are you 6’5” at 14 years old? And a star football player. 380lbs makes more sense then.

R145 Dude. What the fuck!? That was uncalled for. Except for number 5. That one is sadly true. Seriously, fuck all televangelists.

[quote]With my cousins or my friends, we ran around small amusement parks in New England in our teens, for example at 14. There was no need for an adult chaperone watching every ride we got on. They were there, but not walking us on leashes. 1970s.

And you rode there in the back of a smoke-filled station wagon with no seat belt on, and the driver was drinking a beer while driving.

Times have changed.

They got damages for what this kid would have been in college and maybe the pros for football. A kid 6'5" and 380 pounds at 14 would be quite a talent in college.

R148 Yeah but that’s still morbidly obese at that height.

R149 I’ve noticed ever since Trump won the usual racists who post on here have become more brazen. I’m just curious if it’s new people or the same 3 or 4 trolls.

R148 that boy was genetically for hard labor.

R153 People have been free to let out their inner asshole and sociopathy even since that fat cunt bastard rigged his way back into the White House.

When have the racist shit stains around here ever NOT been brazen?

Back in the 60s, there was only one kid we considered "fat" in our class, and he wasn't nearly as fat as many fat kids are today. "Obese" was not used in everyday conversation, or read in a newspaper or magazine. We emulated the people who stayed fit and at an average size. We didn't didn't run to the television or to a video game when you were bored. We were told to go outside and play. We played red rover, tetherball, four square, hopscotch... I never felt like I didn't want to do it. But, I did read, a lot, when I was bored in the cooler months.

[quote]Except you know he weighed more than that before he was ground-schnitzeled and who knows how much of his fat globs ended up on tent roofs, burger grills, cotton candy spinners, funnel cake carbonizers and tots' soft-serve cones.

None. His meat bag held together.

This is why I always say "Not without my snack purse."

I hope the bullied girl gets more.

R157 you couldn’t access porn from all around the world 24/7 either. You really think you’d be out playing tether ball instead of jacking off in your room at 14?

If a park worker actively overrode safety features to let the kid on the ride, then there should have been criminal charges as well. They took actions that caused a grave risk of death to the boy and in fact caused that death.