It’s been six years since Radiohead drum technician Scott Johnson lost his life due to a stage collapse at Toronto’s Downsview Park. This weekend, the band will return to the city for the first since the accident, but it still hasn’t received any answers as to why the tragedy unfolded.
It’s not for lack of trying either. In 2013, the Ontario Ministry of Labour brought charges against Live Nation, a Toronto scaffolding company Optex Staging and Services, and engineer Domenic Cugliari under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. After a series of delays in the case, an Ontario judge then stayed the charges against each party in the case.
On Wednesday evening, Radiohead drummer appeared on BBC Newsnight (via Pitchfork) to discuss the incident. “It’s very frustrating. The court case broke down on a technicality,” Selway said. “So there have been no real answers. Without the answers we can’t ensure that an accident like this can’t happen again.”
See a clip of the interview below, or watch it in its entirety here.
Back in 2013, Live Nation said in a statement, “We absolutely maintain that Live Nation and our employees did everything possible to ensure the safety of anyone who was on or near the stage involved in the tragic incident that led to the unfortunate death of Mr. Scott Johnson… We will vigorously defend ourselves and we are confident that through this process the facts will come to light and we will be exonerated.”
