ORLANDO, Fla. — One day after Tyre Sampson's father pleaded for justice in his son's deadly fall from an Orlando thrill ride, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried sat down with members of the community to discuss the investigation.
While Fried said there was no new information to report, she answered questions from the public and assured them that her office would do everything in its power to find answers.
'We're not putting a timeline on this," she said of the investigation, explaining that her office wants to analyze every single detail to ensure that something like this never happens again.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) was tasked with investigating the safety of the Orlando FreeFall following the March 24 accident at ICON Park. On that day, Tyre Sampson was visiting from Missouri with a friend's family when he fell from the ride. He would later die at the hospital from his injuries, according to authorities.
An initial report from FDACS found that an operator of the drop tower made manual adjustments to the seat that Sampson sat in, "resulting in it being unsafe."
"This report confirmed that manual adjustments had been made to the sensor [of] the seat in question that allowed the harness-to-restraint opening to be almost double that of the normal restraint opening range," Fried read before news outlets in April.
The improper adjustments allowed the safety lights to illuminate, Fried said, which allowed the ride to operate, although Sampson was not properly secured in his seat.
During Wednesday's meeting, Fried said if there were any alterations made to the ride, the ride operators should have contacted FDACS to come back and do another inspection, which they did not do in this case.
The commissioner emphasized the fact that her office only has the authority to make sure amusement rides adhere to the manufacturers' manuals and is not responsible for setting parameters rides must follow.
She explained that investigators are looking at the management of the ride to find out if there was an issue with the operators so the office can then move forward with increasing regulations. Her office does not have the jurisdiction to determine if a company or individual is responsible for Sampson's death, Fried added.
"We're an open book, she said, promising that her office will update the public with any new findings in this case.
You can watch Fried's full meeting with the community below.