Texas grand jury declines to indict Travis Scott over deadly festival crush
A Texas grand jury has declined to indict rap superstar Travis Scott in a criminal investigation of a deadly crowd surge at the 2021 Astroworld festival, his attorney said on Thursday.
Lawyer Kent Schaffer confirmed that the Harris County grand jury had met and decided not to indict his client on any criminal charges stemming from the concert. Schaffer said he was not sure what charges the panel had considered.
“He never encouraged people to do anything that resulted in other people being hurt,” Schaffer said, adding that the decision is “a great relief.”
Thecrowd surge in Houston on 5 November 2021 killed 10 young festivalgoers who ranged in age from nine to 27. The official cause of death was compression asphyxia, which one expert likened to being crushed by a car.
Roughly 300 people were injured and treated at the scene, and 25 were taken to hospitals. Some spectators were packed so tightly they reported they could not move their arms or even breathe.
Houston police and federal officials have been investigating whether Scott, concert promoter Live Nation and others had sufficient safety measures in place.
Schaffer said he feels sympathy for those who were killed at the festival and their families.
“But Travis is not responsible,” Schaffer said. “Bringing criminal charges against him will not ease their pain.”
More than 500 lawsuits were filed over the deaths and injuries at the concert, including many against Live Nation and Scott. Some have since been settled.
About 50,000 people attended the festival.
A 56-page event operations plan for the event had detailed protocols for various dangerous scenarios including a shooting, bomb or terrorist threats and severe weather. But it did not include information on what to do in the event of a crowd surge.
Similar crushes have happened all over the world, from a soccer stadium in England to the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia to Halloween festivities in the South Korean capital. Most people who who die in crowd surges suffocate.