Houston residents Samuel Bush and Jackson Bush, security guards who worked Astroworld Festival 2021, are suing the company that hired them over injuries and emotional trauma resulting from the event.
Both men and their attorney Larry Taylor of the Cochran Firm held a press conference on Monday, sharing that the lawsuit names security company AJ Melino & Associates for “failing to provide a safe workplace and any basic training.”
46-year-old Samuel, the uncle of Jackson, says the only piece of advice he remembers hearing at the event was to “stay safe and don’t put your hands on no one at the time of the event when they actually brought us to the stage.” 25-year-old Jackson gave a similar statement, revealing he was told not to put his hands on anyone either.
“I feel like we were just thrown out there for whatever to happen,” Jackson said, according to KHOU 11. “I feel like it was planned to go that way. For us not to be paid and handled professionally as we worked, yeah, I do feel like that.”
The Bushes say they got the gig by responding to an Instagram listing and were hired the morning of the NRG Park event, with no background check. Neither say they were given walkie-talkies or any way to communicate with other security, and they also claim they weren’t paid the $30 per hour they were told they’d receive, only later getting some payment via CashApp. The company itself allegedly didn’t tell Jackson or Samuel about pay, and has only paid them a quarter of what was expected.
Travis Scott, the Cactus Jack Foundation, Live Nation, NRG Energy and the Harris County Sports Authority are also named as defendants. Samuel reportedly broke his right hand and injured his back in the crowd surge, as Jackson is claiming he suffered emotional trauma, as well as shoulder and back pain. Per TMZ, he “says he witnessed CPR being performed on lifeless bodies and pulled a person from a crowd crush who ended up dying.”
“A lot of people were so into the concert, they didn’t want to be helped, for the most part,” Jackson said. “Even before the concert started, I helped a lot of people.”
A.J. Melino & Associates did not immediately respond to the station’s request for comment. Of course, this is just one of many Astroworld Festival-related lawsuits in recent weeks since the Nov. 5 tragedy that took the lives of 10 concertgoers, the youngest being 9-year-old Ezra Blount, and injured over 300 others. Last week, it was revealed that 280 attendees had filed a joint $2 billion lawsuit over the event.
