According to a story, a concertgoer at Friday's ill-fated Astroworld show in Houston has filed a lawsuit against Travis Scott and the event's organizers for the "expected and preventable disaster."
It's the first of what's expected to be a rush of lawsuits stemming from the fatal event, with at least a few more already in the works.
According to the suit, Manuel Souza, who was injured in the mayhem at the NRG Park gig — when eight people died in a crush of bodies — accuses the rap star and promoters Live Nation and ScoreMore of putting profits ahead of safety at the 50,000-strong event.
“Defendants failed to properly plan and conduct the concert in a safe manner,” Souza’s lawyers said in papers filed Saturday in Harris County District Court, Billboard reported.
“Instead, they consciously ignored the extreme risks of harm to concertgoers and, in some cases, actively encouraged and fomented dangerous behaviors,” alleged the lawsuit, the first of an expected many legal filings related to the case.
Souza's claim chastised Scott and the promoters for continuing the event despite the arrival of ambulances to treat dozens of injured persons.
“Eventually, due to defendants’ active decision to let the show go on, the scene devolved into a complete melee, resulting in the needless, untimely death of at least eight people and injuries to scores of others,” the document said.
According to the lawsuit, frantic fans “breached a security fence around the park, stampeded into the premises, and trampled over one another” simply to get into the sold-out concert.
During Scott's performance, supporters pushed the throng forward, crushing dozens of people and killing eight people, one of them was only 14 years old.
According to Billboard, the lawsuit accuses Scott and the organizers of negligence and gross negligence, and seeks at least $1 million in damages.
In a phone interview with the outlet Sunday, Souza’s lawyer, Kevin Haynes, called the fatal stampede at the show “unnecessary.
“This kind of thing is not supposed to happen,” Haynes said. “There were things that were supposed to be done that were not done.”
Scott and the promoters did not respond to Billboard's calls for comment right away.
Noah Gutierrez, a concertgoer, has filed a lawsuit in connection with the tragedy, and is being represented by big-time civil rights attorney Ben Crump.
“We are hearing horrific accounts of the terror and helplessness people experienced — the horror of a crushing crowd and the awful trauma of watching people die while trying unsuccessfully to save them,” Crump said in a Sunday night statement.
The lawyer, who is most known for representing the Floyd family, predicted that more lawsuits will be filed in the coming days.
