The mayor of the city of Miami and a city councilman both want to ban the annual three-day music and performance event, which is known as the Ultra Music Festival. A security guard was trampled by spectators trying to get in.
Miami police and city leaders say that they had previously warned event coordinators about a weak spot in the fencing surrounding the event and intended to keep non-ticketed purchasers out. One Miami councilman says that members of his office warned event organizers of theirpremises liability and told them to reinforce the fence. The councilman says his staff members were told the fence could not be totally secured in order to allow access for a vendor supplying water to the venue.
If not for that poor decision and others like it, a 28-year-old security guard who was working the fence might still be uninjured. Unfortunately, that woman was trampled by a mob of people who rushed that fence, resulting in her suffering brain hemorrhaging and a broken leg. The councilman believes that this calamity was also foreseeable, saying that it was simply not safe having only one way for people to get in and out of a large event with thousands of people. The Miami mayor, when speaking about the condition of the injured security guard, described her as being disoriented and confused. He says that her future is very uncertain at this time.
Concertgoers have a right to be secure in events such as this one. This time it was one person who suffered injuries caused by people hopping over a fence, but it could have resulted in many injured people. This event just recently ended, so the full extent of injuries among festival attendees is still unknown. Anyone who was hurt at that event as a result of preventable hazards may have a cause of action to recover compensation for his or her injuries and losses.
Source: Miami-Herald, “As injured security guard improves, Miami taking hard look at Ultra’s benefits” Carli Teproff, Mar. 30, 2014