Who's civilly responsible for Astroworld tragedy, was the events operation plan followed
HOUSTON - "You can’t tell a grieving parent you lost your child in an incident like this, because we couldn’t help ourselves, we couldn’t do it any better, it doesn’t work that way," said FOX 26 legal analyst Chris Tritico.
According to Tritico, those most civilly liable are the promoters Live Nation, Travis Scott, and Drake.
WHAT HAPPENED: At least 8 dead, several others injured during Astroworld music festival, officials say
"The promoters are the ones who own the show if you will. So they’re the ones that will be in charge of buying the insurance, hiring the people to develop the security plan to hire the security guards, and to make sure everyone is safe," he said. "They are in charge."
Tritico says he doesn’t see the city or county being liable. Texas law dictates every unnatural death must be investigated.
"I don’t know that you can necessarily say that Travis Scott is the person being investigated. We are just investigating deaths that occurred in an unnatural way," said Tritico.
RELATED: Houston police chief 'expressed concern' to Travis Scott, head of security prior to Astroworld performance
Travis Scott has been criminally charged in the past for enticing concertgoers to rush the stage and stampede through security checkpoints.
"I just don’t know right now that we have any evidence to say what he did in Houston was to incite the way he has in the past," said Tritico. "I don’t think we can make that leap yet."
It’s still not clear if Travis Scott knew about the mass casualty situation and continued to perform anyway.
A 56-page event operations plan states the executive producer and director have the power to stop the show. But it’s not clear in the report who held those roles.
RELATED: Astroworld 2021 event operations plan didn’t mention what to do if there was a crowd surge situation
The plan doesn’t appear to even address crowd control.
County Judge Lena Hidalgo questioned If the plan was followed and calls the plan vague.
"That’s why I think it’s important for someone outside of this web of entities to look at what the best practices are, and it’s what we are trying to go for, and we can see the best we can do given the circumstances," she said.