Father Learned Son Died in Fall From Florida Ride From Video on Social Media

ICON Park attractions, The Wheel, left, Orlando SlingShot, middle, and Orlando FreeFall, right, are shown in Orlando, Fla. on March 24, 2022. Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel via AP

The father of the 14-year-old boy who plunged 400 feet to his death on a Florida amusement park ride said he learned of his son’s death on social media.

“I wish I was there to tell him I love him. That I’m sorry. For him to lose his life. So young, and I wish it was me,” Yarnell Sampson, the father of the victim, Tyre Sampson, told WESH2 in Orlando in an interview published Monday.