Astroworld Lawsuit Filed by Family of Boy “Trampled” at Festival – The Hollywood Reporter

The newest in a rising record of lawsuits in opposition to Travis Scott and different organizers of the lethal Astroworld music competition final weekend was filed Tuesday by the household of a 9-year-old boy who’s in a medically induced coma after he was “trampled practically to demise.”

In one in every of not less than 18 instances which were filed on behalf of victims of Friday evening’s crowd surge incident, the household of a kid recognized as E.B. stated the boy was “trampled practically to demise by different concertgoers” when followers pressed towards the stage.

“This younger baby and his household will face life-altering trauma from at the present time ahead, a actuality that no one expects after they purchase live performance tickets,” stated Benjamin Crump, the household’s lawyer, in an announcement. “Concert events and music festivals akin to this are supposed to be a protected place for folks of all ages to get pleasure from music in a managed atmosphere. None of that was true in regards to the Astroworld Pageant.”

Along with Scott, the lawsuit additionally named promotors Dwell Nation and ScoreMore as defendants, in addition to many others concerned in planning and working Astroworld.

Friday’s lethal crush occurred in the course of the first evening of a two-day competition attended by greater than 50,000 folks at Houston’s NRG Park stadium advanced. Witnesses report hundreds of followers urgent towards the stage, inflicting a panicked stampede and making it tough for some to breathe.

In whole, the incident left eight useless and dozens critically injured, in what seems to be one of many deadliest crowd disasters at a music occasion in years.

Many of the lawsuits filed over Astroworld so far have been dealt with by Houston-area regulation companies, however Crump is a nationally-known lawyer. He has dealt with plenty of high-profile wrongful demise instances, together with Trayvon Martin, George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, in addition to litigation for victims of the Flint water disaster.

E.B., the kid in Tuesday’s lawsuit attended Astroworld along with his father, Treston Blount. As the group surged towards the stage, the lawsuit stated Blount was “kicked, stepped on, and trampled, and practically crushed to demise.”

“As of the date of this submitting, plaintiff E.B. stays hospitalized in important situation, affected by life-threatening accidents, that are prone to be catastrophic,” Crump wrote within the lawsuit.

Like different instances which were filed in opposition to Scott and Dwell Nation, the lawsuit filed by the Blount household accuses the Astroworld organizers of negligence, claiming they “egregiously failed of their responsibility to guard the well being, security, and lives of these in attendance on the live performance.”

The declare focuses on poor planning, but in addition on the choice permit the present to proceed after warning indicators from the crown — and reportedly for extra that 40 minutes after Houston officers had deemed the incident a “mass casualty” occasion.

“Many people had been seen lifting up the unconscious our bodies of associates and strangers and surfed them excessive of the group, hoping to ship them to security,” Crump wrote within the lawsuit. “Additional, a number of people had been shouting for assist with CPR and pleading with Defendants to cease the live performance.”

Dwell Nation, Scott and ScoreMore haven’t responded to requests for touch upon the litigation.

This story first appeared on Billboard.com.