A Florida sheriff’s office has concluded that the death of a 32-year-old man while riding a high-speed roller coaster at Universal’s Epic Universe theme park was accidental.
According to a report released Friday by the local medical examiner, Kevin Rodriguez Zavala suffered a deep cut on the left side of his forehead, a fracture to the bone ridge above his eye and bleeding above his skull. Additional injuries included bruises on his arms and abdomen, a broken nose and a fractured right thigh bone.
The Orlando medical examiner had already determined Zavala’s death was the result of blunt-impact trauma. Investigators from the Orange county sheriff’s office found that Epic Universe employees followed all safety procedures and were not negligent in what was deemed an accident.
Epic Universe is Universal Orlando Resort’s newest theme park.
Security footage captured Zavala appearing “engaged and well” when the ride at the park began – but at its conclusion, he was slumped and unresponsive, the sheriff’s report said.
Witnesses described seeing Zavala bleeding from his face and leaning over in his seat once the coaster stopped. Anna Marshall, a physician waiting in line for the ride, told investigators that Zavala appeared “slouched over and surrounded by blood” as the coaster returned to the platform. She said one of his arms dangled over the side and that his thigh bone “was broken in half and resting on the back of the ride chair”.
Marshall assisted Zavala, who used a wheelchair, after the incident. His girlfriend, Javiliz Cruz-Robles, who was seated next to him, said that Zavala had metal rods in his back from a prior spinal surgery.
Family members told investigators that Zavala’s spinal cord atrophy, the condition behind his disability, had no role in his death on 17 September.
When the ride halted, Zavala sustained extensive facial injuries and remained restrained by the lap bar, which could not be released for about ten minutes, according to Universal paramedic Sebastian Torres.
Cruz-Robles told investigators that a ride operator had to push the lap bar down multiple times before it locked into place and that it seemed too tight across their laps. She said Zavala was thrown forward during the ride’s first descent, striking his head on the metal bar ahead of them. He hit his head several more times throughout the ride as she struggled unsuccessfully to hold him back.
The sheriff’s office noted that warning signs at the ride entrance cautioned guests about sudden drops and accelerations. It also advised against riding with “back, neck or similar physical conditions”, or after recent surgeries or conditions that might be worsened by the ride.
Zavala’s parents shared that he had fractured a thigh bone requiring surgery in 2020 and underwent hip surgery following a dislocation in 2010.
The roller coaster, a dual-launch design reaching speeds of up to 62mph (100 km/ph), officially opened in May to visitors of Epic Universe.
The ruling in Zavala’s death comes after a jury last December awarded $310m to the family of a 14-year-old boy who was thrown to his death from a since-dismantled free-fall ride at Orlando’s Icon Park in March 2022. The episode prompted Florida legislators to pass the Tyre Sampson Act to bolster safety requirements for amusement park attractions.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
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