Crowd Crush Accidents
Crowd crushes can occur when people are gathered in a crowd at a density of more than five people per square meter, so that they cannot easily move through the crowd. When the crowd is this dense, someone who falls down cannot easily get back up and is at risk of being trampled. This can happen at major public events, such as music concerts, sporting events, religious pilgrimages, and state funerals. Most crowd crushes happen when everyone tries to leave the crowded space at once through a narrow exit. Some of the most disastrous crowd crushes have resulted from the crowd’s panic in response to a fire, a threat, or the police releasing tear gas to disperse the crowd. Crowd crushes are the reason why yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater is a commonly cited example of speech that is harmful enough that it should be legally prohibited. In the popular lexicon, people sometimes refer to crowd crushes as stampedes, even though the behavior of humans during a crowd crush bears little resemblance to the behavior of herd animals in a stampede. Almost every crowd crush could have been prevented if the venue where it occurred had a better design or if the people who organized the event had planned better. If you have been injured in a crowd crush accident at a public event in South Carolina, contact a Columbia premises liability lawyer.
19 People Injured in Crowd Crush at Atlantic Beach Concert
Black Bike Week, also known as the Black Pearl Cultural Heritage and Bike Festival, takes place every year on Memorial Day weekend in and around Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and most of the time, no one gets hurt. This year, a crowd crush accident at an outdoor concert event in Atlantic Beach caused multiple people to get injured. 19 people suffered injuries serious enough to require being transported to the hospital by ambulance.
The causes of the crowd crush are still under investigation, but police believe that the crowd crush happened when a fight broke out in the crowd. They think that people tried to leave the venue to get away from what they perceived as an escalating fight, which caused the crowd crush, even though the fight broke up quickly. No one has been arrested in connection to the incident.
Your Rights After Getting Injured in a Crowd Crush
If you got injured in a crowd crush on private property, premises liability laws protect you. It is the responsibility of the operators of a sports arena or concert venue to design the building with crowd control in mind. Even if the crowd crush took place on public land, premises liability laws still apply if you paid admission, and the organizers of the event are legally responsible for keeping the premises safe.
Let Us Help You Today
The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you pursue a lawsuit or insurance claim if you got injured in a crowd crush. Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.
Source:
the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/mass-casualty-black-bike-week-atlantic-beach-b2757526.html
