Fifteen of the 42 people hurt at a Snoop Dogg concert in Camden earlier this month have retained one of Philadelphia's top injury attorneys, who said Tuesday that he would provide an update on the possible class-action case.
The scary scene Aug. 5 inside BB&T Pavilion, the large music venue on the Delaware Riverfront, was captured in several cell phone videos. The surreal visuals show a sudden collapse of a railing and a mass of fans falling roughly eight feet down a wall to a concrete walkway below. One person suffered serious head injuries.
Snoop and another performer were rushed off the stage, which was set up in a location just feet from the walkway that normally separates the venue's seated area and the general admission lawn.
Attorney Robert Mongeluzzi, of Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky, will give an update Wednesday morning on his firm's investigation into what caused the collapse, he said in a statement.
He did not say initially whether a lawsuit would be filed, but a day after the collapse, he urged the operator of BB&T, LiveNation, not to reopen until definite answers were known about the cause of the collapse.
“Railing collapses at concerts occur because they’ve either been: improperly designed, poorly maintained, or due to a lack of or lax security personnel," Mongeluzzi said.
The venue, which has previously been called Susquehanna Bank Center and Tweeter Center, was inspected hours after the incident and cleared by Camden county and city officials to host a concert the next night.
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LiveNation went ahead with the scheduled show, though the entertainment company did issue condolences to the injured fans.
"We were saddened that several dozen people, including Live Nation employees, sustained injuries resulting from a railing section collapse during the Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa concert at Camden's BB&T Pavilion on Friday night," company spokesman Victor Trevino said in a statement Aug. 6. "Live Nation is closely following the recovery of the injured fans and employees as well as actively working with authorities and structural engineers to determine the cause of the collapse."
Several videos shared with NBC10 shows dozens of people tumbling on top of each other. Snoop and Wiz were ushered off the stage as security moved in to help the fans.
