Another lawsuit was filed on behalf of Noah Gutierrez by Ben Crump, a civil rights lawyer who has represented the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black people killed by police. Attorneys for Manuel Souza sued Scott, Live Nation and others, saying they were responsible. Other past crowd catastrophes include the deaths of 97 people at a soccer match in Hillsborough Stadium in 1989 in Sheffield, England, and numerous disasters connected with the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.Įxperts who have studied deaths caused by crowd surges say they are often a result of too many people packed into too small a space.Īlso Sunday, at least two of the first of many expected lawsuits were filed on behalf of a man injured in the crush of people in state court in Houston. In 1979, 11 people were killed as thousands of fans tried to get into Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum to see a concert by The Who. There is a long history of similar catastrophes at concerts, sporting events and even religious events. On video posted to social media, Scott could be seen stopping the concert at one point and asking for aid for someone in the audience: “Security, somebody help real quick.” They were either yelling for Travis or they were yelling for help,” Rodriguez said. “Everyone was yelling for different things. Ramirez said a security guard pulled her over the barricade, while her date, Jason Rodriguez, lifted her up. You couldn’t even lift up your arms,” Ramirez said. “Everybody was squishing in, and people were trying to move themselves to the front. Izabella Ramirez of Texas City was celebrating her 21st birthday and said that once Scott came on stage, no one could move. In addition, investigators planned to speak with Live Nation representatives, Scott and concertgoers. Officials also planned to review the event’s security plan and various permits issued to organizers to see whether they were properly followed. Houston police and fire department officials said their investigation will include reviewing video taken by concert promoter Live Nation, as well as dozens of clips from people at the show. Representatives for the company - which advertises online as being “recognized worldwide as the pioneer, expert and only employee owned company in the crowd management field” - did not immediately respond to emails and phone messages seeking comment. “But as for what it tells us, it’s too early to say.”Ĭontemporary Services Corp., headquartered in Los Angeles, was responsible for security staff at the festival, according to county records in Texas. Optically, that’s really bad-looking,” he said. “Security obviously was unable to stop people. He said, too, that authorities will look at whether something incited the crowd besides Scott taking the stage.Īdelman said another question is whether there was enough security there, noting there is a nationwide shortage of people willing to take low-wage, part-time security gigs. He said investigators will examine the design of the safety barriers and whether they correctly directed crowds or contributed to the crush of spectators. Steven Adelman, vice president of the industry group Event Safety Alliance, which was formed after the collapse of a stage at the Indiana State Fair in 2011 killed seven people, helped write industry guidelines widely used today. “If they don’t know how to do that, they should have canceled the concert right then, when they noticed there was an overcrowd.” He added: “They should not wait until they see people laying down on the floor, lifeless.” “These concerts should be controlled,” Patino said. Julio Patino, of Naperville, Illinois, who was in London on business when he got a middle-of-the-night call informing him his 21-year-old son Franco was dead, said he had a lot of questions about what happened. About 50,000 people were there.Īuthorities said that among other things, they will look at how the area around the stage was designed. City officials said they were in the early stages of investigating what caused the pandemonium at the sold-out Astroworld festival, an event founded by Scott.
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