(ORLANDO, FL) — The world’s tallest tower drop ride will be taken down after a Missouri teenager fell to his death while riding it earlier this year, the operator of the Florida amusement park attraction announced Thursday.
Fourteen-year-old Tyre Sampson died after slipping out of his seat while on the Orlando FreeFall ride at ICON Park on March 24. The eighth grader was a star football player who was visiting the theme park with his team.
Orlando Slingshot, which operates the ride, said it has decided to take down the 430-foot-tall attraction in the wake of Sampson’s death.
“We are devastated by Tyre’s death. We have listened to the wishes of Tyre’s family and the community, and have made the decision to take down the FreeFall,” Ritchie Armstrong, an official with Orlando Slingshot, said in a statement.
The timeline for decommissioning the ride, which has been closed since the incident, will be determined pending approval from “all involved parties and regulatory entities,” the operator said.
Orlando Slingshot also plans to create a scholarship in Sampson’s name to honor his “legacy in the classroom and on the football field,” Armstrong said.
ICON Park said it supports the removal of the Orlando FreeFall.
“Tyre’s death is a tragedy that we will never forget. As the landlord, ICON Park welcomes and appreciates Orlando Slingshot’s decision to take down the ride,” ICON Park said in a statement.
An attorney representing Sampson’s mother, Nekia Dodd, said the ride should have been taken down “immediately” after the teen’s death.
“This is not a ride that can be operated safely, given the design defects,” the attorney, Bob Hilliard, said in a statement. “Dismantling the ride is the right move, though it should have been done immediately after Tyre’s death.”
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Sampson’s father, Yarnell Sampson, called the announcement “long overdue” and one his father has been advocating for “since the day Tyre fell to his death.”
“The Orlando Free Fall ride never should have been permitted to operate under those faulty conditions,” Crump said in a joint statement with Hilliard. “Theme parks, their parent companies, and regulatory agencies must do better to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening to any other family.”
Operator error is suspected as the primary cause in Sampson’s death, according to a forensic engineer’s field investigation report released in April. The report showed that the individual operator of the FreeFall ride, who was not identified, “made manual adjustments to the ride resulting in it being unsafe.”
According to the report, manual manipulations were made to the seat Sampson was sitting in to allow the harness restraint opening to be loosened, apparently to accommodate the more than 300-pound teenager. The investigation found Sampson’s harness restraint opening was “almost double that of a normal restraint opening range.”
Sampson’s parents have filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit accusing ICON Park and other defendants of negligence.
(NEW YORK) — Students at more than 60 high schools and universities across at least 29 states are holding student strikes and events on Thursday to fight for reproductive justice.
The self-dubbed “Day of Student Action” is organized by the Graduate Student Action Network, a group formed in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade ending federal protections for abortion rights, and the Young Democratic Socialists of America.
Students plan to demand that their school step in and defend their reproductive rights and freedom of gender expression in the absence of action from elected leaders, CalTech graduate student and founder of GSAN, Rachael Kuintzle told ABC News in an interview.
GSAN was born over the summer when Kuintzle started emailing student leaders including grad student government leaders, union reps and advocacy club officers.
“Right after the Supreme Court decision in June, I felt really helpless and I started reaching out to grad students across the country … emailing them, and asking if they wanted to meet together and figure out what we can do to get health into the hands of our students as soon as possible. And so what came out of that was this day of action,” Kuintzle said in an interview with ABC News.
Another student group, the Young Democratic Socialists of America, was also separately running a reproductive justice group looking into how they could make a difference and so the two groups teamed up, organizing protests and events jointly, Kuintzle said.
GSAN plans to send letters to Congress and President Joe Biden on Thursday listing their demands.
In the group’s letter to Congress, they are demanding safe, legal and accessible abortion; gender-affirming healthcare; free contraception of all varieties; and federally mandated sex education, including standardized curriculum on sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy prevention and consent.
GSAN is asking Biden to declare a public health emergency over abortion to ensure that abortion pills can be provided by mail for free in all states and implement a program to mail free at-home pregnancy tests on demand to U.S. households to enable early detection of pregnancies.
The letters will be sent from the group of student leaders, but students at some campuses are also gathering signatures for petitions listing demands specific to their school.
Some of the campuses organizing protests or events Thursday include the University of Arkansas, the University of South Dakota, multiple CUNY system campuses, University of Texas at Austin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Law School.
Nikole Schneider and Danielle Galvin, students at at the University of South Dakota, told ABC News they will also be fighting for health insurance, which they do not currently have. They plan to set up several booths on Thursday for voter registration, the student health center, the school’s mental health services, Planned Parenthood and a fundraising booth for a student-run group that offers free healthcare services for those without insurance.
Schneider and Galvin said being in contact with students from around the country has allowed them to feel like they are making a difference, despite initially feeling lonely and helpless after Roe was overturned.
“It’s definitely changed how I think that I can affect what’s happening in the country, especially now, just like being a part of something bigger,” Schneider said.
Galvin said it has been eye-opening to hear the support other students around the country are getting from their schools, with those students giving them advice on how to advocate for themselves with their university’s administration.
A trigger ban in South Dakota prohibits abortions entirely, “unless there is appropriate and reasonable medical judgment that performance of an abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant female,” according to the law.
The law, which went into effect when Roe was overturned, makes it a class 6 felony to provide abortion care in the state.
Students at the University of Arkansas have already had a few protests since Roe was overturned, but they are hoping this day of action would give them momentum going into the midterms, specifically because of the tight restrictions on abortion in the state and attacks on transgender individuals, organizer and graduate student Katy Dupree told ABC News.
A state law in Arkansas bans all abortions except to save the life of the mother, making it a felony for anyone to perform a non-approved abortion, punishable with up to 10 years in prison.
Dupree said they are organizing a comprehensive resource fair with a voter registration booth and speakers along with their student walkout and protest.
“This organization kind of fell into my lap. And it has been a very serendipitous and beneficial kind of happenstance for me, I struggled a lot through the pandemic with figuring out if graduate school is something that I really wanted to continue to pursue. And if I was happy with what I was studying, and really found that advocating for others helped me pull myself kind of up and out,” Dupree said.
The student leaders all agreed that the Oct. 6 protest is just a starting point. What started out as Kuintzle emailing students around the country has since grown into a more organized graduate student group.
“We have a structure, we voted on a name together, we meet regularly, we have rules of operation, we’re over 50 grad leaders in over 30 states,” Kuintzle said.
Only 59 campuses opted to publicly list their name on the GSAN website, saying they will participate in the protests, but Kuintzle said there will be events at seven other schools.
The group plans to continue organizing events and advocating for students in the future.
“We’re committed to fighting for our students rights, not just in reproductive justice, but beyond. We’re looking for future actions and climate justice and indigenous sovereignty, we’re going to be taking some action to fight for higher stipends and better health care coverage for graduate students in the near future as well,” Kuintzle said.
(UVALDE, Texas) — ABC News has confirmed that a former Texas state trooper now under investigation for her conduct in responding to the May 24 Uvalde school shooting rampage is among the new officers hired for the Uvalde school district police department — the same force that has come under fire for the bungled response to the massacre.
The news was first reported by CNN.
CNN reported Wednesday night that the former trooper is Crimson Elizondo, the first member of the Texas Department of Public Safety to enter the hallway at Robb Elementary School after the shooter gained entry. A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation confirmed CNN’s report.
The trooper did not bring her rifle or vest into the school, according to the results of an internal review by DPS that was detailed to ABC News. As a result of potential failure to follow standard procedures, the trooper was among five DPS personnel whose conduct is now being investigated by the agency’s inspector general. The five have been suspended; the trooper in question resigned from DPS and went to work for the Uvalde schools.
Elizondo is the second officer listed on the district’s police webpage.
The official said DPS was not contacted by Uvalde’s school personnel prior to hiring the former trooper.
DPS declined to comment. The Uvalde school district has not responded to a request for comment. The trooper declined to comment to CNN.
Nineteen students and two teachers were killed during the massacre in May. Some families of the dead have joined to form a group called Lives Robbed.
In a statement Wednesday night, the group said: “We are disgusted and angry at Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s (UCISD) decision to hire Officer Crimson Elizondo. Her hiring puts into question the credibility and thoroughness of UCISD’s HR and vetting practices. And it confirms what we have been saying all along: UCISD has not and is not in the business of ensuring the safety of our children at school.”
The statement continues: “We cannot trust the decisions that have been made in regard to the safety of our schools. Therefore, we are calling for all UCISD officers to be suspended, pending the conclusion of the investigation by JPPI Investigations LLC. The results of this investigation must be released to the families of the victims of the Robb Elementary shooting, as well as to the public. Our families have been calling for accountability, and we deserve transparency and justice at the state, local and federal levels. Our children have been taken from us. We will not stop fighting until we have answers and we ensure the safety of the children in our community is the top priority.”
Questions were also raised about the district’s pre-hiring vetting of Pete Arredondo, the former district police chief who has been blamed for much of the bungled shooting response and has been fired because of it. He had been demoted in a previous job, and critics contend that work history was not taken into account when the district hired him to run its police force.
The practice of police officers switching jobs and jurisdictions despite concerns raised in prior posts has become a concern nationally. Some have called for the creation of national standards and databases that would enable prospective employers to learn quickly whether a cop has anything potentially disqualifying in their employment history.
(NEW YORK) — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones declined to take the stand in his own defense Wednesday in the Infowars host’s second defamation trial over his Sandy Hook comments, as jurors are slated to begin deliberating the damages this week.
Standing outside the Connecticut courthouse on Tuesday, Jones called the trial a “fraud” and told reporters he was likely not going to testify again because he could be held in contempt if he says he is “innocent.”
“I’m being ordered to perjure myself when they ask me questions, or I’ll be arrested if I tell the truth,” he said.
His attorney, Norm Pattis, told the court Wednesday that Jones is “boycotting” the trial because he would commit perjury if he testifies under the court’s orders.
Pattis did not call any witnesses for the defense, which is aiming to limit the amount of damages Jones must pay for calling the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School a hoax.
The six-member jury is expected to begin deliberating on Thursday after hearing closing arguments.
The judge last year found Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, liable in the defamation lawsuit, whose plaintiffs include an FBI agent who responded to the scene and eight families of victims that Jones called actors.
Parents of some of the 20 children killed in the massacre have testified during the weeks-long trial, detailing how they have faced years of death threats, rape threats and confrontations outside their homes from people who believed Jones’ lies.
Jones did testify last month after called to the stand by the plaintiff’s attorney. During the tempestuous testimony, Jones suggested the families who sued him have a political agenda because they are advocates for gun safety.
After the plaintiffs’ attorney, Chris Mattei, at one point told Jones to “show a little respect” to the families of victims in the courtroom, Jones responded, “I’ve already said I’m sorry hundreds of times and I’m done saying I’m sorry.”
During the trial, Mattei accused Jones of putting a target on the backs of families through his repeated lies about the massacre being a government-staged hoax and the families of victims being crisis actors.
Prior to testifying, Jones has spoken out amid the trial outside the Waterbury courthouse, calling the judge a “tyrant” and the trial a “political hit job.”
The Connecticut trial is the latest legal battle for Jones involving his comments on the Sandy Hook shooting, in which 20 children and six adults were killed.
In August, a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents of one of the victims — including $4.1 million in compensatory damages for the suffering he put them through and $45.2 million in punitive damages.
The judge in the case has yet to rule on whether to apply state caps for punitive damages to the amount awarded to the plaintiffs — Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse was killed.
In both the Texas and Connecticut cases, the judges issued default judgments against Jones because he failed to turn over court-ordered documents.
A similar decision was issued in a second Texas defamation case last year involving Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose son Noah was killed in the shooting. A trial to determine those damages has not yet started.
Amid the lawsuits, Infowar’s parent company, Free Speech Systems, filed for bankruptcy protection.
(LOS ANGELES) — An attorney representing the family of a Los Angeles police officer who died after a training exercise in May alleged Wednesday that the officer was targeted and killed after filing a report accusing fellow officers of sexually assaulting a woman.
“I think it’s an intentional act because of the magnitude of injuries,” Brad Gage, the attorney for Houston Tipping’s family, told ABC News. “We know that Houston was a whistleblower who reported this alleged criminal act.”
Bicycle officer Tipping, 32, suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury after he and another officer fell to the ground during a simulation, according to a report released Tuesday by Los Angeles Police Department’s Office of Constitutional Policing and Policy, which called his death a “tragic accident.”
“The impact on the ground with the arm of the officer in that position around the backside of Officer Tipping’s neck…in that instance is where the fracture occurred,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore previously said.
Gage says they intend to file a lawsuit against the LAPD over the officer’s death.
A spokesperson for the LAPD told ABC News on Wednesday that the department does not comment on open and pending cases and that “the report that was released yesterday stands on its own.”
The Los Angeles Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office ruled Tipping’s death an accident.
The LAPD’s investigators said they found no evidence of wrongdoing.
According to the LAPD report, officers taking part in the training exercise are expected to be punched and kicked, which according to Gage, Tipping was subjected to during the exercise, leading to his injuries.
Gage disputed the department’s findings, claiming that Tipping was beaten in a retaliatory act for filing a report by a woman who claimed that four LAPD officers sexually assaulted her in July 2021, while wearing their uniforms.
One of the officers involved in the alleged sexual assault was at the training, according to Gage.
The autopsy report said that a cut to Tipping’s head and fractured ribs were sustained while officers tried to save his life.
(TUCSON, Az.) — A professor was shot and killed on the University of Arizona campus in Tucson on Wednesday, campus police said.
The campus police chief said a male professor in the Department of Hydrology was shot and killed by a former student. The suspect was identified by police as Murad Dervish.
Police responded to the campus’ John W. Harshbarger building “for a shooting,” University of Arizona Police said on Twitter shortly after 2 p.m. local time Wednesday.
Police did not issue a lockdown but warned people to stay away from the building and surrounding area.
“Male suspect was ID’d but no longer on scene. Police currently looking for him,” University of Arizona Police said, describing the suspect as being in his mid-30s with short brown hair and wearing a blue baseball cap and carrying a dark backpack.
All remaining classes being held at the school’s main campus have been canceled Wednesday, police said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(FORT MYERS, Fla.) — The Florida barrier islands were hit the worst by Hurricane Ian as teams are still working to survey the damage and conduct search and rescues.
Fort Myers Beach Mayor Ray Murphy spoke with ABC News Live’s Linsey Davis Tuesday night to discuss the latest updates.
ABC NEWS LIVE: What is going on the ground right now? What’s the first step in recovery at this point?
RAY MURPHY: Well, the first step, of course, is finishing this search and rescue. As soon as they get done with that, we can go in and start hauling off the debris and getting our utilities back up and so forth. So, there’s a lot else going on simultaneously with the search and rescue.
ABC NEWS LIVE: [I’m] curious to know what the short-term plan is with regard to two children who need to go back to school and stay local in order to do that, potentially?
MURPHY: Our local school on the beach was destroyed as the other schools on the barrier islands were. So, I imagine the school district of Lee County will be determining where these children will be taken off the island and put into schools. I imagine that’ll be close to where they’ve been evacuated, too, because they certainly won’t be able to go to the schools that are here.
ABC NEWS LIVE: And what’s the long-term plan at this point?
MURPHY: Well, the long-term plan is to this is to rebuild our facilities. But as you say that that is long term, it’s going to take some time. But step by step, we have to clear the island first, get all the debris off the island, and then whoever can repair, make remedial repairs to their places and get back in can do that. Although there won’t be too many of them. There will be there’s going to be a lot of major repairs going on. Nobody was spared this storm. Every structure on the island. So, there’s going to be a big, big job ahead of us. But we’re up to the task. And I look forward to the challenge of it.
ABC NEWS LIVE: When you say there is a big job ahead, where does the money come from to rebuild, to tear down, to restore what the town is lost?
MURPHY: I’m sure in the short term, they’ll be there’ll be FEMA funds available and hopefully everybody had insurance on their properties that they’ll be able to make claims on to rebuild or they won’t. Or people may decide that’s one hurricane too much for me.
ABC NEWS LIVE: President Joe Biden is expected to visit Florida tomorrow. If you get a chance to talk to the president, what do you think your message will be to him?
MURPHY: Well, I’ll first of all, express my gratitude for coming down. And my message will be, so, President Biden, we can use all the help from the federal government.
We’re going to need assistance from our partners on the federal level. And I think I can count on the president to help us out down here.
ABC NEWS LIVE: And lastly mayor, when you envision the future, how do you see Fort Myers Beach now?
MURPHY: Well, I envision it with the rebuilds. People building up to today’s codes and the building stock being so much better. You can still have the same type of architecture and beachy cottages and all that sort of thing, but you just have to build them strong. All of the newer houses that have been built on the beach over the years, all the concrete homes, they did exactly what they were supposed to do. The water rushed through the bottom, blew it out, and the houses remain standing.
So that’s how the beach, any barrier islands for that matter, has to rebuild. If you’re going to live on the coastal barrier island, you have to build. You have to build so the buildings will stand. And so, I foresee a great future for the beach. Know people will always want to come to beachfront property and there’s a certain amount of the population, no matter what happens, they’ll come back to barrier islands. And so, I see a bright future, actually, and I look forward to seeing it happen.
(WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.) — A 20-year-old Purdue University student was killed in his dorm room early Wednesday and his roommate is in custody, school officials said.
Varun Manish Chheda, a senior majoring in data science, was found dead in his room at McCutcheon Hall, a residence hall on the school’s campus in West Lafayette, Indiana, after the suspect called 911 to report the incident at 12:44 a.m. local time, Purdue University Chief of Police Lesley Weite said at a news conference Wednesday.
The suspect, 22-year-old Gji Min Sha, a junior majoring in cyber security, is in custody on a charge of murder, Weite said. He is an international student from Korea, she said.
No other roommates lived with the victim and suspect, Weite said.
A university spokesperson said, with the suspect apprehended, “there is no threat to the community.”
“This is as tragic an event as we can imagine happening on our campus and our hearts and thoughts go out to all of those affected by this terrible event,” Purdue University President Mitch Daniels said in a statement Wednesday morning. “We do not have all the details yet. Our Purdue University Police Department is conducting a thorough investigation of this incident so that we all may learn more about what transpired.”
(NEW YORK) — A New York City paramedic who responded to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, will be laid to rest on Wednesday, six days after she was stabbed to death.
Lt. Alison Russo-Elling, a nearly 25-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department, was stabbed approximately 19 times in the chest in an “unprovoked attack” while on duty in Queens on the afternoon of Sept. 29, authorities said. She was 61.
Peter Zisopoulos, 34, was subsequently arrested in connection with the slaying. He has been charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He has no prior arrests and no known connection to Russo-Elling, according to authorities.
Authorities said Russo-Elling was in the vicinity of 20th Avenue and Steinway Street in Astoria, near her station’s quarters, when she was attacked. Authorities obtained surveillance footage that purportedly shows the incident. In the video, Russo-Elling is seen walking past Zisopoulos, who is standing in the doorway of a building. Suddenly, Zisopoulos appears to pull out a steak knife and “runs full speed” behind Russo-Elling, knocking her on her back and attacking her, authorities said.
An eyewitness is seen in the video apparently attempting to intervene, but Zisopoulos chases them away with the knife still in his hand. He then retreats to his apartment, where he barricaded himself before being taken into custody.
Russo-Elling was transported in critical condition to Mount Sinai Queens Hospital, where she died, according to authorities.
In the wake of her slaying, Russo-Elling’s colleagues described her as “the mother hen of the station” who “was always looking out for everybody.” She was the second emergency medical worker to be murdered on the city’s streets in the last five years and the 1,158th member of the FDNY to die in the line of duty, according to authorities.
In 2017, FDNY emergency medical technician Yadira Arroyo, 44, was struck and killed by her own ambulance after it was stolen in the Bronx.
Acting FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh announced Tuesday that Russo-Elling will be posthumously promoted to captain at her funeral, which will take place Wednesday at 11 a.m. local time.
“Alison Russo was everything we look for in a leader in our Department,” Kavanagh said in a statement. “A dedicated and accomplished veteran of 25 years, she responded to thousands of emergencies, mentored many new EMTs and paramedics, cared deeply for the communities she served, and set an incredible example for others at Station 49 and at every station she called home throughout her outstanding career. This posthumous promotion is a sign of our deep respect and admiration for all the courageous and selfless work she did throughout her career. We will never forget her.”
(WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.) — A Purdue University student was found dead inside a residence hall in West Lafayette, Indiana, before dawn on Wednesday, according to a university spokesperson.
The school’s police force is investigating the death as a homicide, the spokesperson said.
“A suspect is in custody and there is no threat to the community,” the spokesperson added. “An investigation is underway and ongoing.”
The suspect, who was the victim’s roommate, called 911 at 12:44 a.m. local time, according to the spokesperson.
