A person in his 30s died after turning into unresponsive whereas using Stardust Racers at Common Epic Universe in Orlando, Florida, on Sept. 17, 2025. Credit score: FOX 35 Orlando
The demise of 32-year-old Kevin Rodriguez Zavala was dominated unintended, and the investigation has been closed, in response to an incident report from the Orange County Sheriff’s Workplace.
Zavala was using a high-speed curler coaster at Common Orlando’s Epic Universe theme park when he was discovered unresponsive. The sheriff’s workplace stated safety footage confirmed that Zavala was “engaged and nicely” in the beginning of the experience, however was unresponsive when the coaster arrived again on the loading/unloading dock.
Stardust Racers, a part of Common Orlando’s latest theme park, Epic Universe, is a dual-launch coaster that goes as much as 62 mph. Common Orlando says the curler coaster reaches heights of as much as 133 toes.
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Friends experience Stardust Racers, a brand new twin coaster throughout a preview day for Common Epic Universe on April 5, 2025, in Orlando, Florida. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune Information Service / Getty Photographs)
Zavala’s household launched a press release on Saturday through their lawyer, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.
“The household of Kevin Rodriguez Zavala and Common have reached an amicable decision on this matter. The phrases are confidential. The household is grateful for the neighborhood’s assist and asks for privateness presently.”
An worker who spoke with the sheriff’s workplace stated Zavala had “extreme facial trauma.” Moreover, a witness quoted within the incident report instructed the sheriff’s workplace that Zavala was “slumped over with blood coming from his head. His left leg was at a 90-degree angle in between the lap bar.”
Anna Marshall, a medical physician, was ready to board Stardust Racers when she heard somebody screaming “Get me out!” She assumed it was somebody having bother respiratory because of the experience, in response to the report.
The incident report states that Marshall knowledgeable workers that she was a medical physician and will help within the state of affairs. Marshall instructed authorities that she noticed Zavala “fully slouched over with blood surrounding him.” She instructed investigators that on the time she famous that Zavala’s thigh bone was fully damaged in half and resting on the again of the experience chair.
Javiliz Cruz-Robles, Zavala’s girlfriend, was additionally on the experience and instructed investigators that workers pushed down on Zavala’s lap bar a number of instances earlier than the experience started. Nevertheless, she thought it was nonetheless too low.
Kevin Rodriguez Zavala, 32, died after turning into unresponsive on the Stardust Racers rollercoaster at Common Epic Universe on Sept. 17, 2025. (GoFundMe)
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Cruz-Robles spoke with Marshall because the physician tried to manage support to Zavala. Marshall recalled Cruz-Robles repeating “his mother’s going to kill me,” referring to a dialog about Zavala occurring rides.
Zavala was wheelchair-bound and had a number of medical challenges, in response to his mother and father, Carlos Rodriguez Ortiz and Anne Zavala. Due to these points, they had been involved about their son occurring sure rides.
Kevin was born with spinal wire atrophy and had gone by means of surgical procedures all through his life. Additionally they stated that Kevin had beforehand fractured his femur in 2020, which additionally required surgical procedure. Kevin additionally suffered from a hip dislocation that required surgical procedure in 2010. Carlos instructed investigators that Kevin’s mom at all times instructed him to not experience curler coasters however that he by no means listened.
Lawyer Benjamin Crump shows a photograph of the Stardust Racers Epic Universe curler coaster throughout a press convention with the household of Kevin Zavala in downtown Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune Information Service through Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)
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The household had claimed that Zavala’s demise was not an remoted incident, however quite a part of a patten.
Crump stated in an October information convention that the security techniques on Stardust Racers had been “insufficient” and famous the experience historical past presents an “alarming timeline.”
Common’s data, which had been obtained by WOFL, confirmed that the theme park had data of two accidents since its opening. The primary occurred on June 22, when a 63-year-old man reported dizziness and an altered state of consciousness, which the theme park attributed to a preexisting situation. The second incident came about two days later when a 47-year-old lady reported a visible disturbance and numbness. The theme park attributed this to a preexisting situation as nicely.
In September, the District 9 Medical Examiner’s Workplace decided his reason for demise to be “a number of blunt influence accidents and the style of demise to be an accident” following Zavala’s post-mortem, the Orange County Sheriff’s Workplace famous in its incident report.
Stardust Racers is one in every of Common parks’ latest thrill rides. This photograph was taken from Common Helios Grand Resort in Orlando, Florida, on April 4, 2025. (Pilar Arias/Fox Information Digital / Fox Information)
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The sheriff’s workplace decided that Epic Universe workers “adopted their Requirements Working Procedures and didn’t act in a careless or neglectful method.”
“Primarily based upon the totality of the circumstances, with consideration of identified, accessible proof, to incorporate sworn statements, video surveillance, the District 9 Medical Examiner’s Workplace findings, the usual working procedures supplied by Epic Universe, this case was deemed an unintended demise and was closed accordingly,” the sheriff’s workplace wrote within the report.
Fox Enterprise reached out to the Orange County Sheriff’s Workplace and Common Orlando for remark.
Fox Information Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
