ORLANDO, Fla — It will likely take months before it’s known exactly what happened to cause the death of 32-year-old Kevin Zavala following blunt force injuries on a roller coaster at Epic Universe.
Details of how this happened are still be sorted out, but Zavala was in a wheelchair, which is allowed by the ride-maker.
Zavala lost consciousness on Stardust Racers Wednesday night. According to the incident report released Friday, first responders found he had a laceration and did not respond to CPR. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Since it opened, thousands of people have walked through the gates of universal’s epic universe.
That particular roller coaster was one of Epic Universe biggest draws since the park in May. Now it remains closed as the investigation continues.
The last time someone died on an Orlando-area park ride was on the Orlando FreeFall at ICON Park. In that case, it took years before the family got a settlement. The family of Tyre Sampson was awarded $310 million by a jury.
“I think that it’s a good possibility that this ride could be shut down for months, and really, until we find out exactly what happened and have independent authorities outside of Universal, the ride should be shut down because you don’t want to take any chances that this could happen,” said attorney Kim Wald, who was part of the team that sued on behalf of Sampson’s family.
In the Sampson case, the 14-year-old was killed in March 2022 after falling from the 430-foot drop tower attraction. Inspectors later said the teen had been too big for the ride and the shoulder harness wasn’t secured.
But getting to that point took time, Wald said Zavala‘s case will likely take time too.
She said state inspectors are looking at the ride, as are dozens of others. She said they are investigating things like speed, lap belts, flying objects and the coaster itself to figure out what caused the injuries and what caused an issue so intense that a man was killed.
“Hopefully they’ll bring in some outside consultants, not just the Universal testing themself. But this is going to be a very long investigative process,” she said. “It’s possible that at the end of the process, there’s always the possibility of criminal charges if something wasn’t done properly, if something was done intentionally. There are so many unanswered questions at this point.”
Experts have told WFTV rides are tested daily, and separate weekly and monthly inspections are done to check for various things, including wear and tear. So many tests are done that even insurance companies take a outside look.
Experts say these rides are overwhelmingly safe, but this will be an opportunity to look at more safety upgrades.
And new warnings could come out of this for Stardust Racers.
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