The members of British rock band Radiohead are voicing their disappointment that it took eight years for a professional association to conduct a disciplinary hearing into the engineer responsible for the stage that collapsed in Toronto in 2012.
Dominic Cugliari designed the stage that collapsed ahead of the band’s show at Toronto’s Downsview Park, killing the band’s drum technician Scott Johnson and injuring three other members of the road crew.
As CBC News reported in December 2019, the misconduct hearing — conducted by the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario — had been delayed after Cugliari asked to have the charges stayed, claiming the association no longer had jurisdiction because he had retired in 2018, six years after the accident.
On Friday, Radiohead issued a series of tweets about the association’s hearing on Nov. 16, in which Cugliari “acknowledged” his “catalogue of errors and negligence in his part that led to the stage collapse and Scott’s death.”
ahead of our scheduled show on 16th June 2012, killing Scott Johnson, our tour technician and friend.
Mr Cugliari has acknowledged in this hearing, his catalogue of errors and the negligence on his part that led to the stage collapse and Scott’s death.— Radiohead (@radiohead) November 20, 2020
The band continued by stating that his “admissions are 8 years too late. If the evidence now accepted by Mr Cugliari had been agreed at the original court case brought against him, @LiveNation and the contractor Optex Staging, it would have been complete in one day, with a very different outcome and some justice would have been delivered.”
Instead, the band pointed out, the retired engineer is now “seemingly beyond any legal recrimination. This is a sad day.”
would have been delivered. As it is, Mr Cugliari has now retired and, is seemingly beyond any legal recrimination.
This is a sad day. Our thoughts and love are, as ever, with Scott’s parents, Ken and Sue Johnson, his family and friends, and our crew.— Radiohead (@radiohead) November 20, 2020
As CBC News reported, a coroner’s inquest into the stage collapse “heard that plans for the stage were riddled with mistakes, the wrong building components were used in key areas and the construction was running behind schedule.”
RELATED: Radiohead Member, Father Among Those To Testify At Inquest Into Fatal 2012 Stage Collapse
The show’s promoter, Live Nation, contractor Optex Staging and Cugliari were all charged under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act; however, those charges were later stayed because the case took too long to make it to trial.
