A man allegedly pushed from a third-floor balcony and paralyzed at a Travis Scott concert four years ago was “devastated” to hear eight people were killed at the rapper’s Astroworld show in Houston on Friday, his lawyer told Rolling Stone.
Kyle Green, 27, was injured at Scott’s April 30th, 2017 concert at Terminal 5 in Manhattan, the same show where Scott was caught on video encouraging a different fan to drop down from the second-floor balcony into the crowd below.
“I see you, but are you gonna do it?” the rapper exhorted the fan who already had climbed over the railing. “They gonna catch you. Don’t be scared. Don’t be scared!”
Unlike that fan, who appeared to dangle and drop willingly, Green says he was forced over the edge of the higher railing at what he’s called a “severely crowded” and out-of-control event. According to a lawsuit filed six months later in October 2017, Green broke several bones including vertebrae in his fall and was subsequently hauled off the floor by show staff “without a cervical collar, backboard and other safety precautions.”
“Security picked him up like a sack of potatoes and carried him toward the front. Travis offered him his ring. Then they finally carried him out. Unfortunately, he was paralyzed,” Green’s lawyer Howard Hershenhorn said in an interview Saturday. The case is currently pending.
Green was confined to a wheelchair when he first filed the lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court that names Scott, his manager, the concert’s promoter Bowery Presents and a security company as defendants. Hershenhorn said his client “can actually walk now, but with significant, significant disability. He’s partially paralyzed still.”
When Green heard about the tragedy in Houston, he took it hard, the lawyer said. “He’s devastated and heartbroken for the families of those who were killed and for those individuals who were severely injured. He’s even more incensed by the fact that it could have been avoided had Travis learned his lesson in the past and changed his attitude about inciting people to behave in such a reckless manner,” Hershenhorn said.
Scott, 30, is famous for his high-energy shows with raucous, stage-diving crowds. He even raps about his love of aggressive, full-body moshing in the 2018 track “Stargazing.” “And it ain’t a mosh pit if ain’t no injuries/ I got ‘em stage divin’ out the nosebleeds,” he sings.
For Hershenhorn, those lyrics show a careless disregard for people’s safety. “His desire to rile up the crowd beyond hysterics, where people are pushing and shoving, has resulted in a massive catastrophe. It’s time for him to do some significant self-reflection,” the lawyer said.
Scott’s camp has a history of rejecting that position. In an August 2018 filing, the rapper’s lawyers said Green’s alleged injuries resulted from “risks voluntarily undertaken” by concertgoers and anything attributable to possible negligence involved parties Scott was not obligated to supervise or control.
In a Saturday statement posted on Twitter, Scott said he supported a police investigation into the deadly tragedy at NRG Park Friday night. “I’m absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival,” he wrote. “Houston PD has my total support as they continue to look into the tragic loss of life. I am committed to working together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need.”
Scott also was arrested in 2017 for allegedly inciting a riot at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion. Police said he “encouraged people to rush the stage.”
He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct in 2018 and paid $6,825.31 restitution to two people who claimed they were injured at the show, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
“He (Scott) felt bad about anyone being injured and was always willing to pay the restitution,” one of his lawyers, Jon Nelson, told the outlet.
From Rolling Stone US
