Travis Scott will not be charged with deaths in Astroworld

HOUSTON –

A Texas grand jury declined to indict rap superstar Travis Scott in a criminal investigation into a deadly crowd at the 2021 Astroworld festival where some spectators were packed so close together they couldn’t move or even raise their arms. breathe, his lawyer and prosecutors said Thursday.

Attorney Kent Schaffer confirmed that the Harris County grand jury had met and decided not to indict his client for criminal charges over the concert.

“He never encouraged people to do anything that hurt other people,” Schaffer said, adding that the decision is “a great relief.”

The circumstances of the deaths limited the charges prosecutors could bring before the grand jury, eliminating possible counts such as murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide, said Alycia Harvey, an assistant district attorney with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

That left prosecutors to focus on possible counts of child endangerment linked to the deaths of the two youngest concertgoers, ages 9 and 14, she added.

“The grand jury… determined that no crime occurred, that no individual was criminally responsible,” said Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg.

The wave of crowds in Houston on November 5, 2021, killed 10 young festival-goers ranging in age from 9 to 27. The official cause of death was compression suffocation, which one expert compared to being crushed by a car.

About 300 people were injured and treated at the scene, and 25 were taken to hospitals.

Houston police and federal officials investigated whether Scott, concert promoter Live Nation and others had taken adequate safety precautions.

At a press conference Thursday afternoon following the grand jury’s decision, police presented several details of their investigation, including a timeline of events during Scott’s performance, the location at the concert venue where the deaths occurred and videos showing areas where crowds collapsed on each other. .

But police chief Troy Finner declined to say what the overall conclusion of his agency’s investigation was and whether police should have stopped the concert sooner. Finner said police plan to make the more than 1,000-page report into the case public so people can read all the information the investigators reviewed.

“The chief of police isn’t going to come up here and point the finger at anyone. I respect the grand jury’s decision. I just want people to read (the crime report), read the whole investigation and everyone will see, very, very complicated,” Finner said.

Schaffer said he feels sympathy for those who died at the festival and their families.

“But Travis is not responsible,” Schaffer said. “Filing criminal charges against him will not ease their pain.”

The grand jury declined to indict five other people, including festival manager Brent Silberstein. A Silberstein attorney did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

More than 500 lawsuits were filed over the deaths and injuries at the concert, many of them against Live Nation and Scott. Some have already settled.

Kevin Haynes, a Houston attorney whose firm is representing hundreds of those injured at the concert, said he was disappointed by the grand jury’s decision, but civil cases will continue “to ensure responsible parties are held accountable in the ongoing pursuit of justice.”

About 50,000 people attended the festival.

A 56-page operations plan for the event detailed protocols for various dangerous scenarios, including a shooting, bombing or terrorist threat, and severe weather. But it contained no information on what to do in the event of a crowd surge.

In November, a task force unveiled a new agreement that local officials, public safety agencies and promoters said will clearly outline the responsibilities of all parties involved in such events to ensure they are safe.

Finner said Thursday that raised platforms are now required at such shows and will be manned by Houston police, firefighters and others who all have the authority to stop an event if they see any problems.

Similar crushes have happened all over the world, from a football stadium in England to the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia to Halloween festivities in the South Korean capital. Most people who die in mass flows suffocate.