
The Houston Police Department has retracted their claim that an Astroworld Festival security guy may have been injected with drugs at the event.
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The Police chief Troy Finner revealed that officers had interviewed the guard who claimed he was hit in the head, fell unconscious and woke up in a medical tent.
The initial allegation had caused officers to look into drug-spiking as the possible cause of the stampede that caused the Astroworld tragedy.
The crowd surge at the festival on Saturday night had left eight people dead and hundreds fatally injured.
While speaking at a news conference, Houston PD Chief Finner revealed that police told organisers to end the event on Friday night when one person in the crowd was being given cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
He, however, failed to provide an exact timeline of how events unfolded.
Estimating that the investigation being held by the Houston PD could take weeks or months to complete, Chief Finner said he, however, did not believe an independent probe was needed.
Concerns about possible conflicts of interest have risen after
There have been concerns about possible conflicts of interest as the police department deployed about 500 officers to the concert and because of the relationships Scott, who is from Houston, has with local authorities.
Chief Finner dismissed those worries, saying he had only met the singer twice and that there was no “close relationship” between the two.
The stampede began during the rapper’s headline set. Astroworld 2021 was attended by over 50,000 people as such, as panic grew, the casualties quickly overwhelmed the on-site first aiders, officials said. Two of the injured, including a nine-year-old boy, remain in critical condition at the hospital.
Videos from the event are still being investigated to determine the cause of the surge and what had prevented people from escaping. Investigators are also working to interview victims and witnesses.
Since the incident, more than 40 lawsuits have been filed against Scott and festival promoter Live Nation due to the deaths and injuries related to the event.
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