The family of a 9-year-old boy, who remains in a medically induced coma after attending Travis Scott's concert Astroworld with his father last week, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the rapper and other festival organizers.
Ezra Blount and his father, Treston Blount, had traveled to Houston to attend Astroworld and see Scott. The 9-year-old was on his father's shoulders when concertgoers began to crush into each other. Treston passed out and his son fell to the ground. When he later woke up, Ezra was nowhere to be found.
“The crowd just started going crazy and Treston goes, ‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe,’” Ezra Blount's aunt, Taylor Blount, told TODAY on Tuesday.
TODAY obtained a copy of the lawsuit that says Ezra was "kicked, stepped on and trampled, and nearly crushed to death."
The lawsuit says Ezra remains hospitalized in critical condition, suffering from "life-threatening injuries, which are likely to be catastrophic. "
"He is currently in an induced coma on life support and has incurred severe liver, kidney and brain damage," the suit continues. "To his young, growing body, these injuries will have life-long effects, impairing his qualify of life and ability to grow and thrive as he would have had he not been subjected to this incident."
On TODAY, Blount said her nephew has "made it very far," against all odds.
"The doctor the first day told us that he wasn’t expected to make it after the day, but it’s how many days after, so I know he’s fighting in there," she said.
The Blount suit alleges that several individuals were “pleading with defendants to stop the concert.”
“Despite the chaos which defendants were aware of or should have been aware of, defendants failed to stop until over 40 minutes after city officials said the ‘mass casualty event’ had begun,” the suit says.
Defendants named in the family's lawsuit include Scott, his record company Cactus Jack Records, and several Live Nation and NRG Park employees.
The lawsuit seeks "monetary relief of over $1,000,000.00 for the negligent and grossly negligent conduct of the Defendants."
On Tuesday, TODAY reached out to reps for Scott, Live Nation and Astroworld for comment on this lawsuit, but they did not respond.
Scott released a statement on Twitter on Saturday where he said he was “absolutely devastated” by the events, and said he was grief-stricken in a series of Instagram Stories videos shared later that day.
On Monday, Scott announced he will cover all funeral costs for the eight people who died at the concert and will provide “further aid” for individuals affected at the event. The 30-year-old rapper has also partnered with the therapy service BetterHelp to provide free one-on-one online therapy and other mental health services for concertgoers, according to a new release by BetterHelp.
In a statement Monday morning, Live Nation said it will “continue to support and assist local authorities in their ongoing investigation so that both the fans who attended and their families can get the answers they want and deserve, and we will address all legal matters at the appropriate time.”
As of Wednesday, more than 40 lawsuits against Scott and the organizers of Astroworld have been filed.