112. The Sugarpit (Indiana State Fair stage collapse)

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This episode of Swindled may contain graphic descriptions or audio recordings of disturbing events which may not be suitable for all audiences.

Listener discretion is advised.

You're listening to a live performance by PowerPop rockers Cheap Trick, a band from Rockford, Illinois that gained popularity in the late 70s with hits such as I Want You to Want Me and Surrender.

Almost 40 years later, in 2011, the future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers were still going strong.

The band was invited to play on the main stage during the last day of the Ottawa Blues Fest, one of Canada's premier music festivals, which has taken place every year since 1994 at La Breton Flats Park.

Cheap Trick took the stage at 7 p.m.

on Sunday, July 17, 2011.

Everything was going great for the first 20 minutes of the set, but then, almost instantly, the hot and humid sky darkened.

Vocalist Robin Zander noticed a violent storm approaching and cut the music mid-song.

He yelled into the microphone for his bandmates and crew to get off the stage.

Go.

Just then, A 60 mile per hour gust of wind pounded the stage, catching the wind walls on each side like sails on a sailboat.

As the performers scrambled to safety, the 50-ton roof of the stage was lifted into the air.

When it crashed back down, the stage walls collapsed, and the aluminum and steel rigging above crumpled backward away from the crowd.

Everyone in attendance agreed that everything happened so fast.

It was as if some invisible hand pushed the entire structure over.

Ottawa Citizen concert reviewer Chris Cobb reported.

The CBC's Stuart Mills described the scene as, quote, almost like a convertible in a car, just folded it backwards in the same direction.

Dave Fry, Cheap Tricks manager, was standing behind the drums taking photos when the wind destroyed the stage.

That wind hit the stage so hard that it just, you know, it kind of creaked and groaned, and then you heard rivets popping, you know, bap, bat, bat, bat, bap, bat, bap, and then it, uh, the roof fell.

Fortunately, Cheap Trix' tractor trailer parked behind the stage, and two 10-foot-tall generators absorbed the impact of the collapsed rigging, preventing the band and crew from being crushed.

Several festival volunteers trapped underneath were pulled to safety and taken to the hospital with what would prove to be minor injuries.

The most serious injury was suffered by Cheap Trick's 46-year-old truck driver, Sandy Sanderson.

A piece of the falling stage had pierced his abdomen, but he remained conscious and in good spirits, as evidenced by the footage shot by Cheap Trick vocalist Robin Zander in the immediate aftermath of the collapse.

We got out alive, folks.

Look at that stage.

Whoa lightning.

Heavy lightning.

Is that our driver?

Larry, is that our driver?

Yes.

Hey man, are you alright?

I'm going to miss Lord.

Alright, that's okay.

I'll take over for you, alright?

Good deal.

All right.

You guys are all right.

No worries.

I'll take care of everything.

You just get better and get back.

He was disappointed he'd missed low down.

What's that?

You guys are all accountable.

Yeah, we're all accounted for it.

Everybody's alright.

I've checked the other band, too.

They're fine.

This is our main man, though.

He's a truck dunking.

Yeah, that's good.

Sense of humor.

You guys are doing great.

We were mostly in the talk.

Oh, I saw it coming.

We had to cut.

I went like this to take the band out in the middle of a song because I saw the rotation coming.

And we all ran off the stage and it hit so fast, I didn't even get halfway down the stairs before it collapsed right on top of me.

It's hard to tell here, but look at this.

Wind gusts up to 56 miles an hour caused this outdoor stage to collapse in Ottawa last night.

Collapse.

Witnesses say it swept the band members of Cheap Trick off their feet.

There were a few people hurt, most broken bones.

One concert goer has a stomach wound.

All the remaining shows at Ottawa's Blues Fest were canceled.

It was a miracle no one was killed today when the stage collapsed.

Gear can be replaced.

People can't, tweeted Ben Gibbard, the front man of Death Cab for Cutie, who was scheduled to close out the festival on that very stage.

Death Cab had a front row seat to the destruction, which included their gear.

After the show, Nick Harmer, the band's bassist, tweeted, Seriously, what the fuck?

It's probably safe to assume that was a common question among the 10,000 festival goers who calmly exited the park that evening.

Ottawa's Mayor Jim Watson, who was on the stage 20 minutes before the storm, commended the audience's response, quote, People acted thoughtfully and respectfully to their fellow fans, and we are very fortunate it was not worse than it was.

Mark Monaghan, the executive director of Blues Fest, agreed.

He held a press conference the following morning to detail the events of the prior evening and offer refunds and such.

We're holding this press conference today basically to explain what happened last night and what's going to happen going forward today.

I guess what I'd like to say is that what happened last night was fairly dramatic and something that came up fairly quickly.

When we realized or when we felt that the weather was coming in, we made the call to shut the show down.

And fortunately, we got everyone off the stage.

And I'd like to just say that we're very happy of how our team reacted.

And we put in place our emergency procedures and evacuated the park.

Monaghan confirmed that the festival was well aware of an impending storm earlier that day.

Environment Canada had issued a warning ahead of the event of possible winds up to 90 kilometers or 56 miles per hour.

Blues Fest staff was proactive in monitoring the situation throughout the day, but nothing could have prepared them for such a quote freak situation.

It was instantaneous, an uncontrollable bout of nature, an unforeseeable act of God.

I think that, you know, honestly, what we've been told

by those, you know, at the weather office and so on, it was a very unusual situation.

I mean, the fact that it brought that stage down and nothing else came down in the park was

just a freak situation.

However, nine days earlier, when generic rock band the Black Keys played the same stage, performing for a crowd of future cybertruck owners, one of the wind walls on the side stage tore loose and began flapping wildly.

The band's management, who were recently fired as a scapegoat for low overpriced ticket sales, grew concerned and pulled the mom rockers offstage.

Ultimately, the stage technicians fixed the issue, and the Black Keys returned to perform more unimaginative stomping and clapping jingles best fit for sports arena intermissions and everyone went home happy and dumber.

But did that previous incident hint at the fact that there was more at play with the stage collapse than simply the weather?

According to Billboard, some people thought so.

The magazine reported that an anonymous poster on a radio website claimed he was a technician who worked on that Blues Fest stage and that after the Black Keys incident, the straps holding the wind walls in place were replaced by a steel cable to prevent them from coming loose again.

This is significant because wind walls are meant to be removed and quickly.

Securing them with steel cable would make doing so almost impossible.

The company that rented the stage to Ottawa Blues Fest refuted those accusations.

It said the stage and the rigging had been reviewed and approved by multiple independent engineers and there was nothing wrong with it.

There were no steel cables or structural defects.

It was weather, a suspected downburst, according to Environment Canada, that happened too fast for humans to react to it.

Whatever the case may be, people wanted answers, especially Cheap Trick, the band that was almost pancaked.

The group canceled an upcoming performance in Vancouver because the same company was providing the stage.

The band's management released a statement demanding a full accounting of the Ottawa incident.

Quote, While weather likely contributed to the incident, the multi-ton stage roof that fell on everyone on the stage must be properly explained, especially when nearby tents and other temporary structures stood untouched.

Was it a design flaw?

Was it an implementation mistake?

These are important questions that must be answered.

We simply want to know, what are the companies and organizers doing to protect the next act and the next audience?

Every act and every fan ought to be asking the same question when attending an outside musical event.

Inspectors from the Ontario Ministry of Labor were combing through the wreckage to try to answer some of those questions.

Its conclusions, which were published about a year later, included that the stage had been improperly installed and the stage hands improperly trained to adapt to high winds.

The ministry determined that the most critical factor in the collapse was the failure to remove the wind walls, which were indeed secured by steel cable ties instead instead of easier-to-cut plastic zip ties or bungee cords.

Multiple Ontario health and safety laws and building regulations have been violated, even though the code did not include any minimum standards specifically for stages, nor did the stage require government approval.

The Ministry of Labor recommended criminal charges, but that was never pursued.

However, multiple civil lawsuits did emerge.

Well, the lawyers for Cheap Trick are filing a lawsuit against Ottawa Blues Fest, and we're talking about a million-dollar lawsuit.

A lot of allegations in this, but the main one is that they say that Ottawa Blues Fest and its organizers did not provide a safe enough environment for Cheap Trick to play on July 17th, 2011.

Cheap Trick filed a lawsuit against Ottawa Blues Fest for responding to the severe weather in an unsuitable, haphazard, and inadequate manner.

The band sought $400,000 to repair and replace its equipment, plus $600,000 for other damages.

The band's former manager Dave Fry and the band's former driver Sandy Sanderson, as well as three others who were backstage that evening, filed lawsuits of their own, seeking an additional $8 million,

all alleging they had suffered serious, lasting, and permanent injuries.

Those lawsuits were settled privately.

The Ottawa Blues Fest collapse refocused the spotlight on live event safety in Canada.

Just two years earlier, at the Big Valley Jamboree Country Music Festival in Camrose, Alberta, an outdoor stage collapsed, killing one, injuring 75 others, and trapping actor Kevin Costner, who was preparing to perform with his band under the stage.

But the issue was global.

The regulation of temporary structures, such as festival stages and pavilions, varies from city to city, state to state, province to province, country to country, if regulated at all.

Who is responsible responsible for the safety of artist and audience?

The government, the private sector, or yourself?

Regardless of the legal liability, I know who I trust.

The Ottawa Blues Fest collapse is also notable because it kicked off what can only be described as the summer of stage collapses.

Less than a month later, on August 8th, 2011, howling winds ripped apart a stage in Oklahoma on which the Flaming Lips were about to perform.

Ten days later, at the Pucklep Festival in Belgium, another weather-crumbled stage killed three people and injured 70.

However, the most devastating collapse of the year happened in Indiana five days before that one on August 13th, 2011, when another act of God toppled the stage rigging at the state fair.

Miscalculations and inadequacies lead to tragedy and denial of responsibility on this episode of Swindled.

They bribed government officials

clear violations of equity law.

Now we have its books and records

responsible for the collapse of the entire system.

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And I can't wait to share these days with incredible folks, family, and friends.

Oh, the fun never ends.

And I can't wait to see you at the fair.

Indiana State Fair, August 5th through 21st.

Incredible.

The Indiana State Fair has been a tradition in the state for more than 150 years.

It takes place in Indianapolis, usually lasts about two and a half weeks, and attracts 50,000 visitors every day on average who participate in the usual daily fair, plus a nightly concert.

The 2011 iteration was no different.

In fact, Some might argue that the 2011 Indiana State Fair was one of the best ever because it hosted some of the biggest stars on the planet.

The Indiana State Fair, August 5th to the 21st, is host to some of the biggest stars on the planet, including Lady Annabelle,

Big Time Rush,

Train,

and Maroon 5.

Janet Jackson,

Percy Me and Third Day,

Sugarland with Sarah Varelis, the Indiana Indiana State Fair.

August 13th, 2011 started out a warm, sunny day, but fairgoers filing into the Hoosier Lottery grandstand for the evening performances began to notice a drop in temperature.

A cold front had been trudging across the state throughout the day.

A severe thunderstorm watch had been issued for Indianapolis and Marion County for that night.

But by the time Sarah Barelis took the stage at 7:30 p.m., all was calm at the fairgrounds.

When Borelis concluded her set at 8.15 p.m., the wind was picking up and the crowd had swelled.

Approximately 12,000 people were trying to find the perfect spot in anticipation to watch the headliners, Sugarland, a multi-million album-selling, Georgia-based pop country duo.

who was on tour and supported their fourth album, The Incredible Machine.

Sugarland was scheduled to take the stage at 8.45 p.m., but instead, some guy walked out and grabbed the microphone to make an announcement.

Good evening.

How are you?

As you can see to the west, there are some clouds.

We are all hoping for the best that the weather is going to bypass us, but there's a very good chance that it won't.

So just a quick heads up before the show starts.

If there is a point during the show where we have to stop the show on stage,

what we'd like to have you do is calmly move towards the exits and then head across the street to either the Champions Pavilion, the Blue Ribbon Pavilion, or the Pepsi Coliseum.

And then, once the storm passes and everything's safe, we're going to try our best to come back and resume the show, which we have every belief that that's going to happen.

So please get ready,

because in just a couple of minutes, we're going to try and get Sugarland on stage.

Have a great show.

Gosh, darn it.

I guess we have to wait.

Many fans chose to ride out the storm where they were standing or sitting because they didn't want to lose their spots, especially in the sugar pit, which was the VIP front and center spots that the diehard sugar fans waited in line all day to secure.

Moments later, at 8.46 p.m., a violent gust of wind collided with the stage.

The blue canvas tarp atop the stage whipped around.

The large circular LED screen swung like a hypnotist's watch before breaking free and crashing to the stage.

Meanwhile, underneath the platform, Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles and Christian Bush were engaged in a prayer circle with their crew, a pre-performance tradition.

Bush later said he saw an enormous piece of concrete, secured to the stage by a guy line, lift into the air.

All that metal rigging above, thirty-five tons of it, swayed in the wind and lurched forward until it fell directly on the sugar pit.

22-year-old Stacia Floyd told the New York Times that it was, quote, the worst thing I'd ever seen.

Others said you couldn't see much because of the giant cloud of windblown dust, but you could hear the panic, the screaming, primal screaming, as the reality of what just happened sets in.

The primal screaming, something that a human being never hears unless they look down and see a loved one is dead or split in two.

You saw people running and people, next thing you know, you look back and there's people underneath the stage trying to get out.

Onlookers jumped into action, helping mothers look for daughters, helping wives look for lovers, pulling bloodied bodies from the steel wreckage, searching for signs of life.

The information only, if you're responding to the state fairgrounds, we had a collapse of a grandstand area.

We We have

multiple people trapped and multiple injuries.

It's going to be very difficult to set up a staging area for three guys.

It's extremely windy, and the dust and the dirt

everywhere.

So, we're going to try to see what we can find for it.

Tracy Snowberger told Fox 59 that the last memory she had was briefly waking up under the seats.

The next time she opened her eyes, she was in a hospital wearing a neck brace with staples in her forehead and a cast on her foot.

Quite fortuitous, relatively speaking.

Other concert goers received devastating and life-changing injuries.

Brad Humphrey, a 17-year-old high school tennis player, had his spine and legs crushed in the collapse, paralyzed from the waist down, never to walk again.

Multiple reds, multiple reds, unknown blacks.

I need everything for the grandstand.

I've got at least one with a head injury.

Andrea Valinga received Sugarland tickets for her 30th birthday.

Now, she was in a coma.

A giant speaker had crushed her skull.

Villinga was admitted to the hospital as a Jane Doe and was later identified by the one cowboy boot she wore.

Andrea had taken the other off at the show to hopefully get autographed by the band.

We need semantics over here.

We got three children over here in serious conditions.

Jordan Polette was 10 years old.

She had sustained leg and ankle injuries during the collapse.

Her mom Jill and sister Jamie's injuries were much more severe, but their friend Megan Toothman, a 24-year-old cheerleading coach from Cincinnati, was completely unresponsive.

So was Jennifer Haskell, a 22-year-old Ball State student who had suffered serious head trauma and multiple fractures to her pelvis.

Her best friend, Alina Big Johnny, who was standing next to her when the stage fell, was dead on arrival.

Alina's family found out when her sister, having seen the news on TV, repeatedly called her phone until a state police officer finally picked up.

I got one behind the stage.

Black pack done.

Fire control grade, KD, and this.

I'm calling a mass casualty.

Situation is this.

The stage frames work and the speakers have collapsed onto the rows of chairs just in front.

Can you estimate total quantity of patients?

A lot.

Clear.

Do you think I need to start more than five units?

Maggie Molin was three years old and she was bleeding to death.

She attended the show with her mother, grandmother, and two sisters.

Maggie was Sugarland's biggest sugar fan.

She wore a pink tutu to the concert, just like Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles wore to the Country Music Awards.

Maggie's left arm had been sliced to the bone.

A man in the crowd fashioned a tourniquet out of his t-shirt.

A nurse and doctor in attendance carried her away.

We need a tourniquet!

10-year-old Jade Walcott traveled 120 miles with her mom, Shannon Radden, to see Sugarland for her third time.

They arrived early to score second-row seats.

Radden told Indianapolis Monthly that she awoke pinned to the ground by the scaffolding with the stage lights burning her legs.

Shannon had an endless number of broken bones, but she was more concerned about her little girl, who hadn't been found by the time she was taken away in an ambulance.

Little Jade was eventually located under a pile of wires.

Her skull was smashed, her brain swelling.

Jade wasn't dead, but she was dying.

She had a pulse, but wasn't breathing.

Then she vomited and curled up into the fetal position.

Never a good sign, no matter the context.

Jade Walcott was taken to a hospital where they removed a portion of her skull to relieve the pressure.

She was induced into a coma.

A long road to recovery awaited if she ever woke up.

42-year-old Tammy Van Dam's fate was even bleaker.

She was found deceased at the scene.

Her wife, Beth Urshel, suffered a broken clavicle, tissue damage, severed toes, and 40 stitches, on top of a broken heart.

We had so many plans and things we wanted to do.

This was her birthday weekend.

I was taking her down to see her favorite,

Anne.

Alicia Brennan was also grieving.

She attended the Sugarland concert with her civil union partner, 29-year-old Christina Santiago.

a well-known LGBT activist in Chicago.

Christina had also been killed instantly.

I was knocked unconscious with her right in front of me on the ground.

Man, I never saw her again.

When rescue operations concluded at 11:46 p.m., four casualties had been discovered.

Alina Big Johnny, Tammy Van Dam, Christina Santiago, and Glenn Goodrich, a 49-year-old stagehand.

Nearly 50 others were rushed to the hospital with varying degrees of injury, including several critical.

The 2011 Indiana State Fair.

A devastating tragedy.

Tragedy strikes at the Indiana State Fair this weekend.

A deadly disaster as a concert stage collapses into a crowd of hundreds.

At least four people are dead after a stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair.

The band Sugarland was about to perform last night when wind gusts estimated at 60 to 70 miles an hour blew through.

Police and firefighters spent the night sorting through debris.

They say it is possible that more victims will be found.

The terror at the Indiana State Fair is still reverberating through the United States.

How did it happen?

That question is still being investigated.

Many are waiting for the answer, including those in the staging industry.

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We're just gonna let that one sit right here.

Okay.

Is everybody up and running?

Is anybody going live?

Okay.

The most important thing to start out with is our heartfelt feelings for the families that have lost loved ones.

We have confirmed that four people were killed as a result of the high gust of wind that upset all the equipment on the stage,

causing critical, deadly injuries to those four people.

We also know that there were at least 40 people that were injured and transported to area hospitals, including Riley Hospital, Methodist Hospital, as well as Wishard Hospital.

The degree of injuries for those people ranges from cuts and scrapes to very serious injuries, and I would be

very frank that there is a possibility that we could have other deaths.

We hope that everybody will be praying for those injured people and keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

I want to emphasize that what hit really wasn't a storm, it was a significant gust of wind, and that gust of wind is what upset all of the rigging and

structures that were above the stage and caused that collapse.

That's Indiana State Police First Sergeant Dave Burston addressing the media at 1.45 a.m.

the night of the collapse.

Moments afterward, the disaster would claim its fifth victim.

51-year-old Nathan Bird was operating the stage lights atop the rigging when it fell.

He died at the hospital early Sunday morning.

State fair officials held another press conference later that morning to announce that the fair would be closed that day, but scheduled to reopen Monday morning, beginning with what it was calling a public remembrance gathering.

This is Cindy Hoy, the executive director of the Indiana State Fair Commission.

It's a very sad day at the state fair, and our hearts are really breaking.

So, we appreciate all of you giving us a day to regroup.

So, we are closed today.

Tomorrow, the fair will reopen.

We will reopen at 8 a.m.

But we will start with a very special public remembrance gathering at 9 a.m.

on the free stage.

The public remembrance gathering on that Monday morning was a somber affair.

Flags were at half staff.

A bouquet of flowers was presented for each untimely passing.

Children in attendance looking forward to a day of fun, too young.

to understand.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels was among the list of speakers.

He celebrated the heroism displayed by the Good Samaritans and emergency workers that night.

EMTs, pastors, plumbers, Hoosiers helping Hoosiers, a hero every 10 feet, he said.

Indiana is a special place.

It's not everywhere that we would have seen that response and that reaction.

I cannot tell you

how proud I am

To be the employee of six and a half million people like that.

Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland released a statement saying the band was stunned and heartbroken.

Quote, we hold those injured in our prayers at this very sad time.

There are no words.

It is tragic.

Sugarland returned to the stage with new equipment in Albuquerque six days after the collapse on August 19th.

They paid tribute to those killed and injured the only way they knew how with a radio-friendly country tune.

Here we are.

Let's join them live.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, Sugarland, taking the stage.

Thank you.

I am sure that by now all of you are well aware of the tragedy that occurred at the Indiana State Fair on Saturday.

Moments before we were about to take the stage, a huge gust of wind blew in and collapsed the entire stage, wounding over 40 people and killing five.

In honor of those people who were wounded and those beautiful lives that were lost, we ask you to stand and join us now in a moment of silence.

Is it the face of a child?

Unfortunately, Sugarland's tribute was already dated by the time it happened.

Earlier that morning, Jennifer Haskell, the 22-year-old Ball State student, succumbed to her injuries.

The stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair has claimed another life.

22-year-old college senior Jennifer Haskell died Friday from head injuries suffered when a strong wind gust knocked over the stage before a music concert last Saturday.

Some victims remain hospitalized.

One of those victims, Megan Toothman, the 24-year-old cheerleading coach, was taken off life support three days later.

She was the seventh and final death related to the Indiana State Fair stage collapse.

Megan Toothman, a cheerleading coach at Turpin High, had her organs donated today.

The stage itself remained in a crumpled heap on the fairgrounds, cordoned off with yellow police tape.

There, it sat for two months, preserved as evidence, while state and independent investigators analyzed and inventoried the debris.

Governor Mitch Daniels warned people not to jump to conclusions.

Before we start with any witch hunts, let's gather all the facts, he said.

Let's realize these were extraordinary circumstances going on, meteorologically and otherwise.

The state's investigation, led by the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration, was was not interested in the causation of the collapse.

IOSHA was primarily focused on determining if workers were violated or placed in a hazardous situation.

The parallel technical investigations would be handled by Thornton Tomasetti, a New York City-based engineering consulting firm that investigated the collapse of the World Trade Center.

The Indiana State Fair Commission hired them to provide an independent cause and origin opinion regarding the failure of the stage.

Additionally, Washington, D.C.-based crisis and emergency management services firm WIT Associates was brought on to examine the preparedness and response to the incident.

In conjunction, these investigations pieced together what happened that evening.

At 8 a.m., August 13th, 2011, the Indiana State Fair Commission held its daily public safety meeting.

It was led by ISFC Executive Director Cindy Hoy, who mentioned the concerning weather forecasts.

Those who attended that meeting told investigators that Hoy recommended that performances should be delayed if necessary and canceled only as a last resort.

Another impromptu meeting took place at 5:30 p.m.

after the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch for central Indiana.

Possible hail and winds up to 40 miles per hour were set to arrive at 9:15 p.m., 30 minutes into Sugarland's performance.

A decision was made to proceed as scheduled, but continued to monitor the situation.

Around 7 p.m., the situation intensified.

The storm, which was now just 60 miles northwest of the fairgrounds, was showering the towns in its path with heavy rain, lightning, and inch-sized hail with wind speeds over 60 miles per hour.

There was hope that the storm's severity would diminish by the time it reached Indianapolis, but at 8 p.m., fair officials agreed that Sugarland's performance should be delayed.

Executive Director Cindy Hoy sent Eric Milby, a promoter, to Sugarland's dressing room to communicate the decision to their manager, Helen Rollins, who reportedly balked at the news.

Sugarland had another state fair to play in Des Moines, Iowa the following day.

Jennifer Nettles had already warmed up her voice.

It's only rain.

We can play, Rollins told Eric Milby.

Helen Rollins later denied that delaying the show was ever discussed.

Eric Milby, the promoter, told investigators that he went back to the trailer full of fair officials and explained that Sugarland did not want to delay the show.

So the fair officials sent Milby back to Sugarland's dressing room, accompanied by another promoter, Anne O'Toole, who reportedly did all the talking this time.

In a deposition, Executive Director Cindy Hoy said, My understanding of what took place was a conversation that included, what can we do to convince you to delay?

The fair offered to reduce the set time.

They reportedly offered to pay for extra stage hands for the show in Des Moines.

Ultimately, the Sugarland camp agreed to delay the show by five minutes with a new start time of 8.50 p.m.

Cindy Hoy, for some reason, let the band make the final decision and accepted the compromise.

Because of an inclement weather clause in the contract, the fair was on the hook to pay Sugarland at least $335,000 whether they played or not.

Fair officials have denied that any financial implications were considered regarding the decision not to delay the show.

At 8:30 p.m., Cindy Hoy crossed pass with Indiana State Police Captain Brad Weaver.

Sugarland's tour manager had complained that there were too many state troopers backstage, so Captain Weaver, who was off duty attending the show in plain clothes with his wife, was summoned to deal with the issue.

Cindy Hoy asked Captain Weaver his opinion on canceling the show entirely.

He claims he told her,

Ma'am, it's not my call, it's not my site, but if it were me, I'd shut it down.

Hoy seemingly agreed with Weaver's recommendation, telling him that she would have local radio programmer Bob Richards make an announcement for people to evacuate.

Hoy started typing a script on her phone.

A little after 8:40 p.m., Bob Richards walks out on stage and delivers the announcement.

Curiously, Captain Brad Weaver did not hear orders to evacuate.

He says he confronted Cindy Hoy about the omission, and again, she agreed that evacuation was the best idea.

A few minutes later, a violent gust of wind toppled the stage.

This is Indiana State Bear Commission spokesperson Andy Klotz.

And we were on our way to the grandstand to make that announcement, to find the announcer, to make that announcement that this isn't just a suggestion.

We are evacuating the grandstand.

In those three minutes, that's when that undetectable straight-line wind or weather phenomenon occurred and hit the grandstand stage and brought down the roof.

The stage at the Hoosier Lottery grandstand is actually a permanent concrete platform, 80 feet by 48 feet.

During performances, a prefabricated modular aluminum superstructure supplied by Indiana-based Mid-America Sound Corporation is erected above it to rig speakers and lighting.

The roof portion is supported by 14 3/8 inch wire ropes connected to 10 heavy concrete traffic control-like jersey barriers on the ground.

Only gravity held them in place.

Despite the initial theory that the tarp roofing caught wind and pulled the rigging down, engineers at Thornton Tomasetti determined that the actual cause of the collapse was the movement of the structure, which tugged on the guy lines, which dragged the Jersey barriers out of place, the action that Christian Bush of Sugarland later said he had witnessed.

According to engineers, without the concrete ballasts in place, the rigging structure could not support itself and would have started the collapse once speeds hit 43 miles per hour.

The gust that ultimately demolished the stage was measured at 59 miles per hour.

Technically speaking, the inadequate capacity of the lateral load resisting system caused the 70,000-pound structure to collapse under its own weight, ultimately killing seven people and injuring dozens more.

The results of Indiana's OSHA investigation were reported on February 9th, 2012.

The Indiana Department of Labor, through its Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration, undertook a six-month investigation of whether any health or safety standards that were owed to employees on the premises were violated.

It does not address duties to the public.

It was not an investigation of causation.

IOSHA concluded that the state fair, the Mid-America Sound Corporation, and the Stage Hands Union that installed the structure failed to meet certain standards, lacked cooperation, and failed to protect employees exposed to hazards.

All of the organizations were fined, with Mid-America receiving the largest at $63,000 for its, quote, plain indifference.

Thornton Tomasetti and Witt Associates reported its findings two months later in April 2012.

Scott Natchman, the vice president of the engineering consulting firm, detailed the findings in a 90-minute presentation.

From a technical standpoint,

the structure did not have adequate lateral capacity.

The jersey barriers slid and the structure could no longer support itself.

That was what caused it to fail.

Simply put, the stage rigging was improperly designed and properly built and never inspected or reviewed.

It was too flimsy to stand on its own, even without the extra thousands of pounds of lights and speakers.

It seemed like a miracle that it took this long for an accident to occur.

As for the State Fair Commission's preparedness in response to the accident, WIT Associates determined that its protocols or lack thereof could use some work.

Most importantly, quote, there was no clear understanding of who had the authority to delay, postpone, or cancel the show, the report said.

Fair organizers were disorganized, misinformed, inattentive, and confused, all of which contributed to the number of casualties and injuries.

The emergency response to the incident, however, was successful, according to the crisis management firm, with all severely injured patients being transported to hospitals within 80 minutes of the collapse.

What we found was that although they did have plans in place, the emergency response plans and procedures were not fully developed.

The plans were not referenced or used on August 13th.

Multiple agencies were involved in aspects of public safety prior to the state fair, although no one entity had clear responsibility for overall public safety.

The plans that were in place did not address multi-agency coordination.

Something very important

in a large-scale production is the state fair.

In its report, WIT Associates also recommended that the Indiana State Fair Commission obtain a private weather forecasting system and implement an incident command system that clearly identifies who is in charge of emergency operations.

The disaster was a learning experience for ISFC Executive Director Cindy Hoy.

Hindsight is an incredible teacher and that's all we have right now.

The reports are going to guide us to become a model for other fairs in Indiana, throughout the country, for other festivals and events throughout the world.

Hindsight did little to comfort the families of those who died.

This is Christy Big Johnny, the sister of Alina Big Johnny, one of the five killed on site.

When you find out that the stage was built incorrectly, like, and it wasn't like little, minor, it was major.

They didn't build it correctly.

And then you find out that such a big structure doesn't have to be inspected.

And you have, what, 12,000?

How many people there?

What?

And then you hear that the band and the state fair officials were getting notifications about this weather.

With the investigations complete, there was nothing left to do but pick up the pieces

just in time too.

You'll remember all that wreckage from the collapse was turned over to private consulting firms and taken to an undisclosed private storage facility off-site where it was reconstructed and tested.

And you'll remember that those firms, Thornton, Tomasetti, and Witt Associates, already gave their final reports on their findings back in April.

Well, over the weekend, that private storage facility was broken into by thieves who state police believe were just looking for scrap metal.

Sadly, those weren't the only thieves.

26-year-old Stephanie Murray saw the news reports about the Indiana State Fair stage collapse when it happened.

She also saw the news reports about the donated funds available for victims, and she got an idea.

Stephanie told her aunt, 38-year-old Sandra Hearn, that they should pretend that they were injured at the concert and file claims, even though neither of them had attended.

26-year-old Stephanie Murray viewed the August 13th, 2011 State Fear rigging collapse as an opportunity for ill-gotten gain.

She told her aunt, 38-year-old Sandra Hearn, Auntie, we can get money.

Auntie, you can get money.

Ooh, I'm going to play like I was there.

The day after the collapse, Stephanie Murray went to the hospital and put on a show.

You ought to seen me, she told her aunt.

I fell out on the floor and I performed.

The medical professionals didn't believe her.

She was discharged with documentation that read, no visible signs of trauma.

Stephanie altered the records to remove the no and submitted her claim.

Her aunt did the same.

Stephanie Murray and Sandra Hearn submitted false claims totaling $22,500 to both the Indiana State Remembrance Fund, which was crowdfunded and managed by the state fair, and the Indiana Tort Claim Fund.

which was administered by the Indiana Attorney General's Office.

Murray was rejected by one but later sent a check for almost three grand from the other.

Sandra Hearn was awarded $7,500, but she was arrested when she went to pick up the check.

Both Murray and Hearn's applications had been flagged by a fund administrator for a variety of reasons.

For one, they both used the same patient identification code, which belonged to an 11-year-old girl that they did not know.

Detectives also discovered that the scar on Stephanie Murray's face, which she said was the result of a laceration from the collapsed rigging, was visible in her driver's license photo from 2008.

When questioned by police, Sandra Hearn was adamant that she was at the concert.

She said she had seen Sugarland play, quote, a couple of songs before the collapse, not realizing that the band had never taken the stage.

Sandra Hearn was charged with three counts of forgery, two counts of perjury, one count of theft, and one count of attempted theft.

Stephanie Murray was arrested later and charged with one count of forgery, one count of perjury, and one count of attempted theft.

Both women pleaded guilty in August 2012.

Sandra Hearn was sentenced to two years' home detention, two years' probation, community service, and ordered to repay the $7,500 she'd received.

Stephanie Murray failed to show up for her sentencing.

This is her lawyer.

It was probably not the brightest thing she's ever done.

By October 2012, Murray was back in custody for a new hearing.

The judge rejected her initial plea bargain, which would have spared her incarceration.

Murray's new sentencing hearing was scheduled for December.

Why did you run?

Why not?

I ain't ruling.

They set me up.

They set me up.

Hello to all my fans.

I'll be out soon.

Why did you steal that money?

He turned around.

He said, why steal the money?

In December, Stephanie Murray again violated the terms of her plea by submitting a diluted urine sample.

When they went to arrest her at the Crane House, which is a re-entry facility for non-violent female offenders and their preschool-aged children, the cops found news articles about her attempted hijacking of victims' funds posted on her bedroom wall with little stars scribbled around them.

Stephanie Murray was sentenced to 922 days in prison, where she was soon joined by her aunt, Sandra Hearn, who soon violated the terms of her own plea agreement.

F the judge, f the mother

PA, f the prosecutor, f all you fingers.

As for everyone else involved, the show must go on.

I wept.

We are forever connected to those people because of the evening that we shared and the moment that we shared and the tragedy that we shared.

On October 28th, 2011, a little more than two months after the tragedy, Sugarland returned to Indianapolis to play a free concert at the Consequo Fieldhouse to raise money for victims of the collapse.

The band posted a thank you message on its website afterward that included a link to purchase their most recent album.

We went earlier today out to the site at the fairgrounds, which was the first time we have been there since August.

And I can acknowledge that it may be an emotional show tonight, but it will also be a celebratory show tonight.

Obviously, we are here in October.

We were supposed to do the show in August.

Obviously, the stage is different.

You are different, and we are different.

We're all changed by what happened then.

But

We are going to try to give you the best show that we can and to celebrate healing with you and to celebrate life and music with you here tonight.

After that, Sugarland was not able to talk about the tragedy much.

They couldn't because they were up to their necks in litigation related to the Indiana State Fair disaster.

By November 2011, 44 survivors and the families of four people who were killed, represented by at least 20 lawyers, had filed multiple lawsuits alleging that Sugarland and every other party involved in the concert had failed to provide a safe environment by ignoring weather conditions, which led to multiple devastating injuries and wrongful deaths.

Sugarland rejected the idea that they were somehow responsible.

Now, the new uproar over that stage collapse tragedy at a Sugarland concert last year.

The Country Duo has expressed shock and sadness over the deadly incident, but now their lawyers seem to be suggesting that their fans are partly to blame.

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Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please today

and this moment

marks the anniversary of the tragic accident that occurred August 13th, 2011.

At this time, we ask that everyone please pause.

Remove your mats,

join the Indiana State Fair family in remembrance of those lives that have lost

and those that are forever impacted.

Please join us now in a moment of silence.

On August 13th, 2012, at 8.46 p.m., exactly one year after the infamous stage collapse, the Indiana State Fair paused all of its rides, concessions, and games to pay respect to those who were forever injured or lost their lives in the tragedy.

The names of the seven killed were read aloud on the public address system.

Elena Big Johnny,

Nathan Bird,

Glenn Goodrich,

Jennifer Haskell, Christina Santiago, Megan Toothman, Tammy Van Dam.

Their names were also etched onto a small plaque, which was installed near the grandstand entrance.

where no concerts would take place that year.

In the wake of the collapse, the state of Indiana passed legislation requiring the creation of regulatory rules for outdoor stage equipment.

Governor Mitch Daniels established the Outdoor Stage Safety Committee, and groups like the Event Safety Alliance also sprung up in the aftermath to push for the international standardization of the industry.

The Indiana State Fair Commission acted on the recommendations from WIT Associates and others.

They added two positions, a chief operating officer and a director of safety and security, security, so no more ambiguity as to who caused the shots.

The commission also now contracts with a professional weather vendor to monitor weather conditions 24-7 while the fair operates.

There's a texting system in place for timely updates, chaperones at each building to direct potential evacuations, and a public address system that can be heard anywhere on the fairgrounds.

All of these improvements had already been put to test a week before the anniversary when a severe thunderstorm hit the state fair on August 5th, 2012.

Five announcements alerted guests to the incoming storm, directing them to seek shelter in permanent buildings.

Drastic steps in the right direction.

Here's ISFC Chairman Andre Lacey bragging about the Bears' new emergency management plan.

The best comprehensive emergency management plan that exists on this planet at this point today.

Inappropriately, there are still some of our friends in the media that are still looking out and trying to chop off Cindy's head.

The victims of the collapse weren't looking to chop off anyone's head.

They just wanted some accountability and some relief.

The medical bills were rapidly mounting.

The state of Indiana stepped up to the plate first in December 2011 by paying out $5 million, the statutory limit on state tort settlements.

The General Assembly later approved an additional payment of $6 million to be paid out by the end of 2012, proportional to the severity of injury.

According to Attorney General Greg Zoller, the objective of the additional funds was to expedite relief to victims who might otherwise be waiting on years of litigation.

Years of litigation, indeed.

Eleven separate lawsuits involving dozens of victims and victim estates were ultimately consolidated into one.

20 different private companies were named as defendants, including Mid-America Sound, Live Nation, and Lucky Star Inc., which is Sugarland's management company.

Sugarland refused to settle.

Sugarland's attorney writes, some or all of the plaintiffs' claimed injuries resulted from their own fault.

In a court filing, the band's representation acknowledged that the stands should have been evacuated, but claimed that its fans' injuries, quote, resulted from their own fault because they didn't run for safety.

In other court filings, Sugarland's attorneys also questioned if some of the victims were even really injured or in attendance at all, such as the three-year-old girl in the pink tutu.

Do you remember Little Maggie Mullen?

Sugarlands attorney questions if she and many others in this lawsuit were really there and suffered physical and emotional injuries.

Sugarland's manager Helen Rollins denied any responsibility for what happened when she was deposed.

Quote, it is not my job or responsibility as the tour manager to understand weather and how weather works or to forecast weather.

I rely on the promoter and the people that run the venue.

Jennifer Nettles, Sugarland's main vocalist, towed that same line.

And is it your position that neither you nor your management had any responsibility whatsoever for the safety of your fans that evening?

Yes, typically, it's

we're invited to to come in to a place and play.

It's not our place.

And that's true, in your opinion, even though your fans, especially those fans in the sugar pit sitting right next to the stage, were at risk of serious injury or even death

should that equipment fall from the rafters because of heavy wind, right?

I don't feel it's my responsibility or my management's responsibility to evacuate the fans in the

case of danger.

Do I care about their safety?

Absolutely.

Do you care enough to postpone the event on August 13th?

Did you care enough to postpone the event on August 13, 2011, until the storm blew past?

I didn't know about it, and it's not my responsibility.

Was postponing the event Sugarland's responsibility?

The plaintiff's attorney, Kenneth J.

Allen, thought so.

He said the band denied three requests to delay the show due to weather.

They're the ones that said keep the fans out there, we're going to perform, Allen told WTHR, adding, quote, I think those statements are hard to square with the other statements released by Sugarland that they care about their fans.

This is Beth Urshel, the widow of Tammy Van Daum and a disappointed sugar fan.

I just feel really betrayed by them.

You know, you love them, you think you know them, and

they turn around and say, well,

it's your fault.

It probably gets me a little bit more angry because it's sort of an oxymoron.

You can't say that you love your fans, and then when something happens at one of their venues, they blame you.

Independent injury attorney Matt Belcher told CBS that money was the underlying reason Sugarland was blaming its fans.

Quote, in this instance, it appears to me that the attorney is more concerned about the liability exposure of the insurance carrier for Sugarland rather than the complete package of what's best for the Sugarland public relations image.

That certainly seemed to be the case.

Sugarland was protecting its financial assets by letting a jury determine its role and responsibility.

But it never came to that.

The band Sugarland, a concert promoter and 16 other defendants, reach a settlement with the victims of the fatal stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair.

They agreed to pay $39 million to settle the claims.

Seven people died and close to 100 people were injured in August of 2011 when the strong winds toppled the rigging and caused the stage roof to fall onto the fans.

The accident led to new regulations on rigging for outdoor events.

Today's settlement is in addition to an earlier $11 million settlement with the state.

On December 19th, 2014, it was announced that 17 companies, including Sugarland, settled the lawsuits for $50 million, including the $11 million already paid out by the state of Indiana.

It was historic.

We believe it is the first time a lesbian couple in a civil union has been treated like any other couple for the purposes of wrongful death recovery, said Brian Bradley of the Kenneth J.

Allen Law Group, referring to Alicia Brennan.

who was in a civil union with Christina Santiago that the state of Indiana did not recognize.

We are proud to have overcome another hurdle in the struggle for equal treatment regardless of sexual preference.

A lesbian widow will recover for the wrongful death of her wife.

That is

historic

and we believe something that Christina Santiago, if she were here today, would be proud of.

If she were here today.

But she's not.

Neither were six others.

But you kind of just get used to it.

It's a new normal, Christy Big Johnny told Fox59 in reference to the loss of her own sister Alina.

You have all this love for this person and you can't give it to them and it kind of just sits there.

That pain doesn't go away, Christy told the Indy Star.

Megan Toothman's family channeled that pain into something positive.

They established the Megan Toothman Foundation.

and have used the proceeds from the settlement to hand out over a thousand scholarships in 10 years.

Andrea Velinga, the woman whose head was crushed by a speaker, eventually got back on her feet after six weeks in a coma.

She had to learn how to walk, talk, and eat again, and she still has seizures, depression, and no use of her left arm.

But the fact that she's still here is a miracle, and that's not something she would ever forget.

Neither would Jade Walcott, now Jade Carrero.

The 10-year-old with a crushed skull is now in her 20s and married.

She recently recounted her experience and recovery on her YouTube channel, overcoming tremendous odds by growing up to become a high-functioning human with better taste.

But we always went to see Sugarland.

So those of you who don't know who Sugarland is, they are a country band.

They are like a pop country band.

I don't really follow them anymore.

Maggie Molin, the three-year-old in the pink tutu, also survived.

She told the Indy Star that she doesn't remember much from that night, but the scar on her left arm still hurts from time to time.

Maggie's mother, Laura Maggis, who underwent 14 surgeries of her own, told the newspaper that she's made it a point not to wallow in the past.

Quote, I've done everything I can with the girls to replace the bad memories with good ones.

Sala V

Swindled is written, researched, produced, and hosted by me, a concerned citizen, with original music by Trevor Howard, aka Deformer, aka The Black Keys, biggest fan.

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