A punk-rock fan, who suffered severe injuries during a concert in New York, filed a lawsuit this week against Australian band Trophy Eyes.
Bird Piché, 24, found her life changed forever on the day she attended the band’s concert at the Mohawk Place in April.
The young New Yorker was in the crowd of the 230-person venue when lead singer John Floreani dove from the stage into the crowd.
Highlights
- Bird Piché filed a lawsuit after suffering severe injuries at a concert in New York.
- The 24-year-old sustained a spinal cord injury after John Floreani, the lead singer of Trophy Eyes, dove from stage into the crowd.
- “I definitely didn’t expect to be in a hospital after the concert,” she said immediately after the accident.
- Bird filed a lawsuit against the band, its lead singer, and others over the incident.
Punk-rock fan Bird Piché is suing Australian band Trophy Eyes and others after suffering severe injuries during their concert in New York
Image credits: Reddit/@wmsiegner5
Image credits: Bird Piche
The crowd-surfing moment turned tragic when the band's front-man landed on Bird, making her suffer a “catastrophic spinal cord injury.”
“It was, like, his body and my neck,” she told NBC News from a hospital bed in May. “It was a crowd-surfing thing.”
Months after the incident, a lawsuit was filed on Wednesday, December 18, in which Bird accused the defendants of “negligence, recklessness and carelessness.”
“While plaintiff Bird Piché was in attendance at this concert, defendant John Floreani jumped backwards from the stage into the audience,” read the court documents.
Lead singer John Floreani’s crowd-surfing stunt left the 24-year-old fan with a “catastrophic spinal cord injury”
Image credits: Reddit/@wmsiegner5
Image credits: Reddit/@wmsiegner5
“As a result of the uncontrolled stage dive, the lead singer, John Floreani, landed on top of plaintiff Bird Piché causing her to be trampled and/or fall, sustaining serious bodily injuries,” the lawsuit continued. “Plaintiff, Bird Piché, experienced serious personal injuries, conscious physical and emotional pain, fear for her safety and pain and suffering as a result of the incident.”
As per the lawsuit, Bird is suing the band, its lead singer John, the venue Mohawk Place, and the promoter After Dark Entertainment, LLC, for the incident.
“Upon information and belief at all relevant times herein, the injuries and damages suffered by plaintiff Bird Piché were sustained as a result of the negligence recklessness and carelessness of defendant Mohawk Place Inc's, After Dark Entertainment Inc's, Trophy Eyes' and John Floreani's agents, servants and/or employees, and/or those actions on its behalf or at its request,” the lawsuit said.
“As a result of the uncontrolled stage dive, the lead singer, John Floreani, landed on top of plaintiff Bird Piché causing her to be trampled and/or fall,” the lawsuit said
The plaintiff is seeking “a sum of money which exceeds the jurisdictional limits of all lower courts together with the costs and disbursements of this action.”
Following the tragic concert incident, reports said John had ridden with Bird in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, where she was rushed into emergency trauma surgery.
Bird later revealed that she was partially paralyzed and could only move her arms during her May interview with NBC News.
“So my legs, it's involuntary, have been kicking a lot lately. I can't control it,” she said. “My arms, they're — besides my hand dexterity—almost fully there. My fingers don't have full movement.”
The lawsuit named the band, the lead singer, the concert venue, and the promoter After Dark Entertainment, LLC, as defendants
Image credits: Trophy Eyes
Image credits: Trophy Eyes
While she said it’s “typical” for crowd-surfing to take place at rock concerts, she admitted: “I definitely didn't expect to be in a hospital after the concert.”
"I have a long road ahead, but I'm very optimistic right now," she added.
The venue where the concert took place revealed that they had a strict policy forbidding crowd surfing during shows.
“There are signs posted everywhere in the venue and notice was included in the emails for this show with the show's promoter and the band themselves. Our policy and practiced procedure is a full show stop for any stage diving which was put into place for this incident,” Mike Thor, the venue's general manager, said in a statement soon after the incident.
The band shared an update earlier this year about the progress Bird made since the unfortunate incident
Image credits: Trophy Eyes
Image credits: WGRZ-TV
Trophy Eyes had made a $5,000 donation to the crowdfunding page set up for her recovery and rehabilitation expenses.
The band shared an update in July saying the injured concertgoer was making progress in her recovery.
“We are happy to share that Bird is underway in the rehab phase of her recovery. With physical therapy, she has regained movement in her arms and wrists, and feeling has returned to her legs and feet,” the band said. “There’s still a very long road ahead for Bird and her family as they progress through her recovery, so we kindly ask that you keep them in your thoughts and continue to respect their privacy.”