Lawsuit filed against Travis Scott, Live Nation and Scoremore following Astroworld Festival tragedy
Manuel Souza, who’s being represented by the legislation agency Kherkher Garcia, “suffered severe bodily accidents when the uncontrolled crowd on the live performance knocked him to the bottom and trampled him,” in keeping with the lawsuit filed in Harris County, Texas.
“Defendants didn’t correctly plan and conduct the live performance in a secure method,” the lawsuit continued.
“As an alternative, they consciously ignored the intense dangers of hurt to concertgoers, and, in some instances actively inspired and fomented harmful behaviors. Their gross negligence prompted Plaintiff severe accidents.”
A jury trial is most well-liked to find out the precise quantity of damages, in keeping with the lawsuit, however Souza is searching for “financial reduction of over $1,000,000.”
CNN has reached out to Scott, Stay Nation and Scoremore for touch upon the lawsuit.
“Heartbroken for these misplaced and impacted at Astroworld final evening,” Stay Nation, the corporate answerable for organizing the Astroworld Competition, mentioned in an announcement. “We’ll proceed working to offer as a lot info and help as doable to the native authorities as they examine the state of affairs.”
The timeline of occasions on the night of the tragedy
Scott took the stage for his set shortly after 9 p.m. Officers mentioned they had been made conscious of crowd surges early in his set, and obtained the primary reviews of accidents at roughly 9:30 p.m.
It’s unclear what Scott noticed from the stage and whether or not he was conscious of the gang situations on the time, however he continued to carry out till roughly 10:10 p.m. That’s about 40 minutes after the primary reviews of accidents had been made to officers and simply over half-hour after officers declared the live performance a “mass casualty occasion,” in keeping with instances given by Houston Fireplace Chief Samuel Peña at a information convention Saturday morning.
Video from the live performance’s livestream additionally confirmed Scott pausing his efficiency and searching on in obvious confusion as an ambulance pulled into the gang. He started performing in opposition to, however later stopped the live performance.
“I am truthfully simply devastated,” Scott mentioned as he repeatedly sighed and rubbed his brow. “We’re really working proper now to determine the households so we may also help help them by means of this powerful time.”
Some concertgoers have criticized organizers for persevering with the present at the same time as unresponsive folks had been being given CPR and carried away, however Scott indicated he was not conscious of how extreme issues had gotten. “Any time I might make out, , something that is happening, , I simply stopped my present and, , helped them get the assistance they want.”
The lawsuit alleges, “Scott actively encourages his followers to ‘rage’ at his concert events. His categorical encouragement of violence has beforehand resulted in severe violence at quite a few previous concert events.”
It additionally cites a since-deleted tweet from Scott in response to fan complaints about this live performance’s fast sell-out: “WE STILL SNEAKING THE WILD ONES IN. !!!!!”
CNN’s Joe Sutton contributed to this report.
