When a response is required in his area, he is the first to respond. "In the city of Houston, a district fire chief is usually over three or four stations. "As with any big, large-scale event he took a ride over and said 'hey, let's check everything out,'" Lancton said.
#WHAT HAPPENED TO ASTROWORLD PROFESSIONAL#
HOUSTON - The president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighter Association said Thursday the district fire chief whose station was closest to NRG Park stopped by the venue the morning of November 5 but was denied access twice, CNN reported.Īccording to Patrick "Marty" Lancton, the district fire chief of Station 21 stopped by to walk through the venue to get a lay of the land ahead of Friday night's concert, something he said is "normal." “So many people were hurt, and so few emergency personnel were provided by defendants, that patrons themselves had to conduct CPR on their fellow concertgoers.A 9-year-old boy and 22-year-old college student remain in critical condition following the deadly crowd surge at Houston's Astroworld music festival. Patrons were “unable to breathe due to profound lack of crowd control, inadequate water, inadequate security, and a lack of exit routes,” the complaint said. The complaint slams Scott and Live Nation for allowing the performance to continue even after widespread reports of trampling and people losing consciousness, and ambulances driving through the thick crowd to provide aid. Lawyers for concert attendee Manuel Souza, who filed the first lawsuit, say the events were predictable. Scott’s attorneys David Byrnes and David Lande of Ziffren Brittenham LLP in Los Angeles, didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment. “Knowing all that, the city of Houston should have been preparing to deal with these things. People at his concerts have been known to “jump up on the stage, mosh-pitting, all these things,” Kephart said. Scott also was sued over another 2017 incident at a concert in New York city in which a fan was paralyzed after a crowd, allegedly incited by the performer, pushed the fan off a balcony. The Houston native was arrested twice on public disorder charges tied to concerts in 20, when he encouraged fans to ignore security measures and rush the stage at events in Chicago and rural Arkansas, respectively. Scott’s history of encouraging fans to misbehave is once again in the spotlight. The press office for the city of Houston didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Neither company immediately responded to messages seeking comment. Scoremore said in a statement on Twitter that it is also cooperating with authorities. 6 tweet, Live Nation said it was “heartbroken for those lost and impacted.” Two days later, the company said in a statement that it is continuing to “support and assist local authorities in their ongoing investigation so that both the fans who attended and their families can get the answers they want and deserve, and we will address all legal matters at the appropriate time.” Live Nation returned to profit last quarter after about two years of losses during Covid-19 lockdowns. The suit, filed in state court in Houston, also named concert promoter Scoremore LLC and several individuals tied to the event at NRG Park. Scott and Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, were sued Saturday by a man who says he was seriously injured after being knocked down and trampled. “In this instance we don’t know factually a number of things about this particular venue in Houston that need to be figured out before we can say what liability lies where.”ĭetails of Scott’s behavior on stage will also be scrutinized, Kephart said. “We don’t know the cause or relationship between what happened and specifically where the fault lies,” Kephart said. If the numbers match, Live Nation may be less liable because private security and police are supposed to keep out people who don’t have tickets, he said. 5 when eight people died.Ĭrucial evidence will likely involve comparing the number of people in the crowd with how many tickets were authorized to be sold under the contract, said Kephart, who’s based in Phoenix. rapper Travis Scott was performing at the concert Nov. Stan Kephart, a former police officer whose consulting company has worked on crowd-management probes for more than three decades, said in situations like Astroworld the greatest legal risk lies with performers and the cities that approve the events.