Why did public officials defer to Travis Scott's sovereignty while people died?

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Whatever findings or even criminal charges flow from the Houston police investigation into the tragedy that left ten people dead at rapper Travis Scott's Nov. 5 concert, two questions cry out for answers.

How much authority over the event did the city and Harris County cede to the performer and concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment?  

And who was making decisions about whether the show should be stopped when people started dying?

A review of Houston Fire Department logs by Paste BN reporter Rick Jervis showed that even before Scott took the stage at 9:15 p.m. — in a temporary venue erected on parking lots of the county's sprawling NRG sports and entertainment complex — hundreds of concertgoers had already been treated for injuries from crowds surging past barricades.

COLUMN: Astroworld Festival tragedy spotlights best practices in crowd management

As the crowd pushed toward the stage, as has happened at previous Scott concerts at his urging, the crush of bodies caused people to suffocate and fall to the ground. Beginning at 9:30, police radios erupted with calls about those trampled and unconscious.

“We all had to help each other and fight for our own lives,” concertgoer Alyssa Cortes, 20, told Paste BN. “All you hear is people screaming and crying."

And yet not then, or 22 minutes later at 9:52 p.m. when fire officials declared a mass casualty event, did the concert stop. At one point, video showed Scott pausing the event when he saw an ambulance, but then the show went on. (HIs lawyer says Scott was unaware of how dire the situation was.)

It wasn't until around 10:11 p.m. that the music finally ended and first responders could sort through the chaos. In fact, it's not clear whether the concert was halted or Scott had merely finished his set. 

"The ultimate authority to end the show is with production and the entertainer, and that should be through communication with public safety officials," was the astonishing explanation from Houston Police Chief Troy Finner.

"We don't hold the plug," he said of the police.

Which raises the question: Why on earth not? 

Travis Scott's Astroworld event that night was not a sovereign entity, where emissaries negotiate a conclusion to a concert. It was an unfolding disaster on public property, where police and fire officials must necessarily have the power to step in and shut things down immediately to end the dying. 

COLUMN: At Travis Scott's Astroworld, I had to help lift shorter people up so they could breathe

(Early on, the police chief offered the inexplicable explanation that the concert couldn't be stopped because riots might ensue. He has since stopped saying that.)

Another point of concern: It's been reported that a local district fire official tried to conduct a pre-concert safety inspection of the Astroworld site but was barred access by security personnel. 

How is a fire official denied the chance to inspect public property before a public event?

Scott is a cherished son of Houston, where he's been feted and given the key to the city for his accomplishments and charitable offerings, which include a basketball court and gardens. 

But he has also earned a reputation for soliciting raucous behavior during concerts, and has twice pleaded guilty to criminal charges for such on-stage behavior.

Moreover, the Live Nation promoter has its own checkered history of managing events where injuries and deaths have occurred.

Their alliance Nov. 5 produced what is now one of the worst concert events in history. In addition to eight people ages 14 to 27 who died that night, a 22-year-old woman attending her first concert became the ninth victim after being removed from a ventilator Wednesday. And a 9-year-old boy pulled from the bedlam died Sunday.

Scott has apologized. Dozens of lawsuits have been filed. The investigation continues.

"We're going to hold people accountable," Chief Finner said. 

Let's hope that includes city or county officials who may have surrendered the authority to curtail this calamity before bodies piled up.