The rock band has spent years trying to bring Dominec Cugliari and event executives to justice for the tragic death of Scott Johnson at Downsview Park in Toronto, Canada.
- Nov 23, 2020
AceShowbiz - Rockers Radiohead have expressed their disappointment after the engineer responsible for a 2012 stage collapse which killed their drum technician acknowledged his negligence eight years "too late."
Scott Johnson lost his life when a stage roof collapsed while he was setting up for the band at Downsview Park in Toronto, Canada, but 13 health and safety charges filed against Live Nation bosses, their engineer Dominec Cugliari and contractors at Optex Staging were stayed in 2017, when a judge ruled the proceedings had "taken too long to complete."
Earlier this week (begins November 16), officials at the Discipline Committee of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) conducted a hearing to investigate Cugliari's actions leading up to the tragedy, and during his testimony, the now-retired engineer admitted he was at fault.
However, Radiohead, who has spent years trying to bring Cugliari and event executives to justice, considers his confession too little too late for Johnson and his loved ones.
In a statement issued via Instagram on Friday, the bandmates wrote, "Mr Cugliari has acknowledged in this hearing, his catalogue of errors and the negligence on his part that led to the stage collapse and Scott's death."
"These admissions are 8 years too late. If the evidence now accepted by Mr Cugliari had been agreed at the original court case brought against him, @livenation and the contractor Optex Staging, it would have been complete in one day, with a very different outcome and some justice would have been delivered. As it is, Mr Cugliari has now retired and, is seemingly beyond any legal recrimination."
"This is a sad day," they added. "Our thoughts and love are, as ever, with Scott's parents, Ken and Sue Johnson, his family and friends, and our crew."
