ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 News 6 has obtained newly released body-camera footage showing what exactly happened after a guest was killed on Epic Universe\u2019s Stardust Racers rollercoaster last year.<\/p>\n
Investigative documents show that the incident happened on the night of Sept. 17, when 32-year-old Kevin Rodriguez Zavala was found unresponsive on the ride<\/a>.<\/p>\n Zavala was pronounced dead at the hospital, but Orange County fire officials said that he hadn\u2019t fallen from the roller coaster. Instead, the medical examiner chalked it up to \u201cmultiple blunt impact injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n [VIDEO BELOW: Death report released after rider killed on Stardust Racers]<\/p>\n According to the report, Zavala appeared to have suffered \u201csevere facial trauma,\u201d with witnesses reporting a \u201csignificant amount of blood loss.\u201d<\/p>\n First responders said they learned that Zavala was wheelchair-bound as a result of a preexisting spinal injury, meaning his legs didn\u2019t work properly.<\/p>\n Investigators stated that Zavala\u2019s girlfriend of 10 years, Javiliz Cruz-Robles, had also been riding on the coaster, and she told first responders what she\u2019d seen before the ride kicked off.<\/p>\n Per Cruz-Robles, a Universal ride employee had pushed down on Zavala\u2019s lap restraint several times, but after they got to the first downhill portion of the ride, he \u201cflew forward,\u201d hitting his head.<\/p>\n [BELOW: Investigators interview Cruz-Robles at Epic Universe]<\/p>\n \u201cHe doesn\u2019t have any support on his neck. They pushed it down three times, maybe four,\u201d Cruz-Robles can be heard saying in released footage.<\/p>\n \u201cWho pushed it? The ride worker?\u201d an investigator asks.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d she responds. \u201cI tried \u2014 I saw him on the first drop. I saw him hit his head. I tried to hold him; I couldn\u2019t hold him. Another one, he hit his head… He just went up and hit… It looked like (the restraint) was tight, but it wasn\u2019t because he didn\u2019t have support on his neck.”<\/p>\n [BELOW: Cause of death released after man killed on Epic Universe rollercoaster]<\/p>\n Cruz-Robles reported that she was crying for help, but due to being in the middle of the ride, no one heard her screaming until the train cart returned to the station.<\/p>\n A doctor visiting the park who was waiting to get on the ride also reported seeing the bloodied Zavala, who appeared to be \u201clifeless,\u201d slouched over with his arm hanging over the side. <\/p>\n After jumping into action to examine Zavala\u2019s body, the doctor described that his femur was completely broken in half and resting on the back of his seat.<\/p>\n [BELOW: Listen to the full interview with the Dr. Anna Marshall]<\/p>\n During later interviews, detectives said they learned that Zavala and his girlfriend had been riding several other attractions at the park that day, including other roller coasters.<\/p>\n Alongside the spinal injury, Cruz-Robles reportedly explained that Zavala had metal rods in his back due to his spine surgery, as well as a prior hip condition. <\/p>\n \u201cAs the interview continued, Javiliz Cruz-Robles said (she) had just learned about Kevin Rodriguez-Zavala\u2019s previous hip injury and said she \u2018guessing\u2019 (sic) that his previous hip injury could have been the cause of him coming so far out of the seat,\u201d detectives wrote.<\/p>\n [BELOW: Guest dies after riding Stardust Racers at Universal Epic Universe in Orlando]<\/p>\n Ultimately, investigators determined that the incident was an \u201caccidental death\u201d and that the case is now closed.<\/p>\n \u201cUpon reviewing the documents, complied with the sworn statements and video surveillance, it appeared that all employees of Epic Universe followed their Standard Operating Procedures and did not act in a careless or neglectful manner,\u201d investigators said.<\/p>\n When Stardust Racers reopened after Zavala\u2019s death, the safety and accessibility guides<\/a> for Epic Universe and its sister Central Florida theme parks were updated. Prior to the death, the Epic Universe safety guide<\/a> for Stardust Racers said it was \u201cnot for guests with back, neck or similar physical conditions.\u201d That still exists in the updated guide.<\/p>\n Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 News 6 has obtained newly released body-camera footage showing what exactly happened after a guest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4424,6113,28,1335,139,141,140,9456,9457,2411,3435,3434],"class_list":["post-208998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-death-investigation","tag-epic-universe","tag-florida","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-stardust-racers","tag-stardust-racers-death","tag-theme-parks","tag-universal","tag-universal-orlando"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}