Investigators Explore Role of Illegal Drugs at Astroworld Concert

Experts in crowd safety say an investigation into the Astroworld disaster by neutral outsiders could help the city avoid potential conflicts of interest and promote transparency in an investigation currently being handled by Houston police and fire departments, both of which played key roles in crowd control measures, on-site security staffing and the emergency response, reports the Associated Press. County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Harris County’s top elected official, has also called for a separate, independent review of the tragedy.

Hidalgo hasn’t decided who would conduct such an independent review or how it would be done. Some of the lingering questions involve what the Houston police and fire departments did before, during and after a crowd surged toward the stage. Other questions center on the actions of event organizers. Officials have said a private company was primarily responsible for providing security at the festival, but Houston police were also assigned to the event. The plan says medical care at the festival was provided by ParaDocs, a private company based in New York. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner has defended how long it took for the concert to be called off after the first signs of trouble. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Houston police are also looking at the possibility of some of the deaths being caused by overdoses at the concert due to counterfeit pills possibly laced with fentanyl. Numerous concertgoers who survived were administered naloxone, which rapidly reverses opioid overdoses, and narratives around the incident include one that someone had injected some concertgoers with drugs.