No Escape Plan: Houston Chronicle deep dive on the crowd crush at the Astroworld Festival

[Winehole23]

10 fans sustained fatal injuries in what became one of the deadliest concert disasters in U.S. history (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Astroworld-one-of-the-10-deadliest-concerts-in-16597926.php). Hundreds more were injured.


A Houston Chronicle investigation found critical failures by multiple authorities tasked with ensuring the safety of attendees that day, including inadequate and poorly trained security, deficient coordination between city officials and festival management, and a nearly hourlong delay in halting the show after the danger became apparent
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/projects/2021/astroworld-no-escape-plan/

[Winehole23]

9:38 P.M.

Fire Chief Sam Peña said the HFD declared a mass casualty event. One minute later, the department dispatched 16 units to the venue.


At this time, HPD Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite said police, aware that several fans had collapsed and needed CPR, informed festival promoters that the show needed to end. Satterwhite said the promoters agreed. But police made a critical call to leave this decision in the hands of the festival management.


Chief Finner would later say his department lacked the power to halt the performance.
“The ultimate authority to end the show is with (the) production and the entertainer,” Finner said on Nov. 10.


(https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/astroworld-fest-tragedy/article/Injured-guard-at-Astroworld-not-injected-with-16610542.php)The city charter, however, charges the police department with keeping the peace in all public places.


“Let’s say there’s a loud noise, or a scream; people can panic and rush. You can’t ultimately prevent that,” said former Mayor Annise Parker. “But once (the crush) happened, police had an absolute responsibility to take control of the situation and at the very least make sure rescue personnel could get where they needed to be and treat the injured.” Mayor Sylvester Turner did not comment for the story.


The Astroworld operations plan gives two officials the authority to stop the show: the executive producer and festival director. But it also states that in emergencies, an incident command post will be activated under the command of the “local jurisdiction,” which the document defines as the Houston police and fire departments.


Neither agency has produced any evidence festival executives took this step.


Finner also would say later that he feared abruptly ending the show would have sparked a riot. There were several possible intermediate steps, however, that were not taken — including pausing the show for several minutes or ordering a partial evacuation of problem areas.


The operations plan provided scripts for how the PA announcer could alert attendees of an emergency. At no point would the festival’s speakers or video boards broadcast any safety messages, attendees said.


The concert continued as if nothing were amiss. For the next 36 minutes, medics trudged (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/For-37-minutes-after-officials-declared-a-mass-16598473.php) in the dark through the dense crowd attempting to locate, evaluate and transport fans in distress.

[Winehole23]

Max Morbidelli is an EMT in the crowd who was rendering aid to a cardiac arrest victim, Bharti Shahani


9:42 P.M.

Two ParaDocs medics, meanwhile, arrived to help Bharti. Finally, Max thought. They’d have a defibrillator, and an oxygen bag to help her breathe.


They ordered him up, and he let one of the medics take his place while the other rushed off to get additional help. But Max quickly realized they didn’t have any additional equipment. And the first medic’s compressions were too fast and too shallow. He seemed completely inexperienced, Max thought.


Where was the defibrillator? Where was the oxygen? They had none of it, the medics responded.


Then the second medic returned with a backboard — which had no straps. He watched the medics and several police officers pick her up. He yelled that someone needed to be at the head of the backboard, to coordinate as they moved.


There was none of that. Just the medics and police trying to carry Bharti through the crowd, pushing and pulling through the throng.


At the barricade, he watched with horror as they propped the backboard on the fencing. He yelled for them to stop.


Then, the head of the backboard slipped. Bharti’s unconscious body slammed head first into the ground.


Max sank to his knees and wept.

[Trainwreck2100]

that faceplant video was fucking crazy too

[Winehole23]

The authorities have already limited the scope of their inquiries. A plan by County Judge Lina Hidalgo for an independent Harris County investigation was blocked (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/astroworld-fest-tragedy/article/lina-hidalgo-astroworld-investigation-rejected-16625841.php) by Commissioner Adrian Garcia, a former Houston police officer, who said his colleagues should support HPD’s investigation.


Finner said he did not believe an outside investigation (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/astroworld-fest-tragedy/article/Houston-Police-Chief-Finner-rejects-call-for-16610960.php) was warranted and so far has not taken up an offer from the FBI to assist.


He said his department’s investigation, led by homicide detectives, could take months.

[MultiTroll]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/09/01/a3/0901a33e05169e3d3588b02efb44367c.jpg
Dint Do Nuffin

[Winehole23]

Strong-armed contractors to sign revised agreements

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[Thread]

Small potatoes, blacks are involved so this calamity has been relegated to the edges and will remain there.