Radiohead appalled as charges over Scott Johnson's death are stayed

Radiohead say they are appalled that an Ontario judge has stayed the charges over the 2012 stage collapse at Downsview Park in Toronto, which killed their drum technician, Scott Johnson. Thom Yorke tweeted on Wednesday that words utterly failed him, and on Friday the band posted their statement on Twitter. This is an insult to the memory of Scott Johnson, his parents and our crew. It offers no consolation, closure or assurance that this kind of accident will not happen again.¹

Judge Ann Nelson stayed the charges against Live Nation, Optex Staging and Services and the engineer Domenic Cugliari on Tuesday, ruling that the delay had breached their right to be tried within a reasonable time. The Supreme Court of Canada sets a ceiling of 18 months for a case in provincial court; a new trial, due to run from this month to May 2018, would have taken this one to almost five years. Nelson accepted that the case was complex, and called a stay a last resort, a sign that the justice system has failed. No doubt, this decision will be incomprehensible to Mr. Johnson's family.⁴

Johnson, 33 and from Doncaster, died on 16 June 2012 when the stage's roof came down during the last of the set-up for a sold-out Radiohead show. In 2013 the Ontario Ministry of Labour laid 13 charges under the province's Occupational Health and Safety Act. All three denied them.

The first trial had run 40 days over 14 months when its judge, Shaun Nakatsuru, was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court in the spring, with closing arguments days away. He ruled that he no longer had jurisdiction, a mistrial was declared, and the case had to start again. Now it has stopped, though the charges could in principle be brought back within a year.

Even Live Nation's lawyer said the ruling would be brutal for Johnson's family. His father, Ken, said it was heartbreaking, and not fair.