HOUSTON, Tx. – Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump and a team of 20 lawyers are representing hundreds of victims who were at the Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas, saying that what happened at the venue was criminal.
As of Friday, nearly 100 civil lawsuits had been filed in connection to injuries that concert attendees reportedly sustained during the festival where Travis Scott was performing.
“Imagine someone bear hugging you behind you as hard as they can. It’s just bodies, about five minutes, people started falling over,” explained Dishon Issac, who attended the concert.
Crump says that the nine people who died unknowingly bought a ticket to the their own death sentence and that those who witnessed what happened are emotionally scarred.
″Families lost their high school children, their college children, people were injured greatly and nobody should ever die from going to a concert,” Crump said.
The attorney says he’s representing more than 200 people who he says suffered mentally and physically. Crump says the failure of Live Nation promotors to control the crowd was a criminal act.
″Every one of them could have stopped the music and turned on the bright spotlights so everybody could see what was going on, to see everyone was on the ground and so everybody could take a breathe, but they didn’t do that,” Crump said.
Attorneys say an inspection of the venue reveals to them that the concert should have never been approved by Live Nation promotors or emergency personnel.
Lawyers say a 9-year-old boy who was also trampled at the concert is fighting for his life in the hospital. They are asking people who were at the concert and have cellphone video or were injured to contact them.