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Father Of Radiohead Collapse Victim: Nobody Has Been Prosecuted

Radiohead
Radiohead (David Urrea CC BY-SA 4.0)
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TORONTO (CelebrityAccess) The father of Scott Johnson, who was killed in Canada in 2012 when a roof of a temporary stage collapsed before a Radiohead concert, has spoken out about his concerns that nobody will face prosecution.

Scott Johnson, 33, a drum technician from  Doncaster, South Yorkshire, was onstage when the stage collapsed. It was the final concert of Radiohead’s North American tour. The incident at Toronto’s Downsview Park killed Johnson and injured three others. In 2013, Live Nation Canada, two other organizations and an engineer were charged with 13 violations under Ontario health and safety laws.

The hearing was dropped in September under the Jordan ruling, a Canadian law that requires speedy trials, after several delays. The defendants claimed in 2016 that their constitutional rights to a speedy trial were violated (despite their role in delaying the trial). At the time, Johnson’s father, Ken, called it a “stunt” and “a trick.”

Ken Johnson, a safety adviser for the U.K. scaffolding industry, recently told The Star newspaper of Sheffield, England, that although an inquest is expected to take place in Toronto next year, he is still “aggrieved” that the prosecution never happened. The engineer miscalculated the weight of the roof by more than 16,000 pounds, according to transcripts.

“To some degree after all this time, I don’t feel so bad towards the defendants,” Johnson told the Star. “The engineer made some terrible mistakes and that will all come out during the inquest – but no-one will be prosecuted. … My biggest annoyance is the manner in which the case has been killed in Canada.”

He added that he was still appealing the district attorney to get it reversed.

“I just wonder if Scott had been Canadian if it would have made a difference.

“And I’m sure the inquest will bring the truth out – but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Canadian safety laws. It’s that they haven’t managed the case and seen the law executed.

“The irony is that now there will another 18 months bringing the case to inquest and they will have to go through all the evidence again.”


Johnson said he did not want anyone to go to jail, only that there should be consequences.

“The fundamental errors this engineer made were terrible but I don’t think he should have gone to jail – he will have suffered anyway,” Johnson said.

“I don’t think he set out to kill Scott that day – but Live Nation owned the materials used and should be heavily fined.

“I just want some acknowledgment and recognition that the case has not been heard.”

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