Live Nation and Optex charged over Scott Johnson's death

Ontario's Ministry of Labour has laid 13 charges over the stage collapse at Downsview Park in Toronto that killed Scott Johnson, Radiohead's drum technician, last June. Two Live Nation companies, Live Nation Canada and Live Nation Ontario Concerts, face four counts each under the province's Occupational Health and Safety Act, and so does Optex Staging & Services, the Toronto firm behind the stage. An engineer the ministry has not named is charged with endangering a worker through advice or certification given negligently or incompetently. Neither Radiohead nor their touring company faces any charge.

The Live Nation counts rest on the part of the act requiring a structure to bear any load put on it; the charges against Optex concern the stage's structure and stability. The first hearing is on 27 June at the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto.

Johnson was 33. Part of the stage gave way on 16 June 2012, hours before Radiohead were due on in front of a sold-out crowd of 40,000, and three other people were hurt, one of them seriously. The band cancelled the show, postponed seven European dates and paid tribute to him when they went back on stage in Nîmes in July.

Live Nation deny responsibility, saying they and their staff did everything possible to keep everyone on or near the stage safe, and that they expect to be cleared.

It will never bring Scott back, but (the charges are) a little bit of closure

Paul Bonney⁵

, said Paul Bonney, a close friend of Johnson's who drums for the Australian Pink Floyd Show.