Injured and Locked-out Fans File First Lawsuits over Copa America Stampede and Melee

AP

11:41 JST, July 20, 2024

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The first lawsuits have been filed in connection with last weekend’s melees that broke out when fans without tickets forced their way into the Copa America soccer tournament final at Hard Rock Stadium, with one person citing serious injuries and some ticket holders saying they were denied entry.

Miami-Dade County and federal court records show that as of Friday morning, at least four lawsuits had been filed against the stadium and CONMEBOL, South American soccer’s governing organization, over the chaos that broke out at the admission gates before Sunday’s game between Argentina and Colombia.

Attorney Judd Rosen, who represents an injured woman, said stadium and CONMEBOL officials should have hired more police officers and security guards, but they put profits above safety.

“This was a cash grab,” Rosen said. “All the money they should have spent on an appropriate safety plan and adequate safety team, they put in their pockets.”

Stadium officials declined comment Friday beyond saying they will refund unused tickets bought directly from organizers. They previously said they hired double the security for Sunday’s final compared to Miami Dolphins games and had exceeded CONMEBOL’s recommendations. The stadium will be hosting several games during the 2026 World Cup.

CONMEBOL, which is based in Paraguay, also did not specifically comment on the lawsuits. In an earlier statement, the tournament organizers put blame for the melees on stadium officials, saying they had not implemented its recommendations.

Rosen’s client, Isabel Quintero, was one of several ticket holders injured when they were knocked down or into walls and pillars. Police arrested 27 people — including the president of Colombia’s soccer federation and his son for a post-game altercation with a security guard — and ejected 55.

Rosen said his client, who works in finance, had flown her father to Miami from Colombia to see the game as a belated Father’s Day present, spending $1,500 apiece for the two tickets.

He said Quintero, who is in her 30s, was in line when security closed the admission gates to prevent unticketed fans from entering. As the crowd built up and game time approached, people were being dangerously pushed up against the fences. Security guards opened the gates “just a little bit to let one person in at a time,” Rosen said.

That is when some in the crowd pushed the gates completely open, causing a stampede, Rosen said. Quintero got slammed into a pillar, causing soft tissue damage to her knee and shoulder and a chest injury that is making it difficult to breathe, he said. Her father was knocked down, but he wasn’t hurt.

“He never once watched the Colombian national team in person because he thought it was too dangerous in Colombia,” Rosen said. ‘So he flew over here as a Father’s Day present to watch his national team play and this is the result, something they never thought would happen in the States.”

He said he expects to file several more lawsuits, having spoken to one person who had teeth knocked out and another who suffered a broken arm.

Attorney Irwin Ast filed lawsuits in state and federal court for fans who had tickets but weren’t admitted because the hundreds of unticketed fans who pushed their way inside filled the stadium past capacity.

He said these fans had come from all over the United States and the Americas, spending thousands for admission, air fare and hotel rooms. They also experienced fear and emotional distress when they were caught up in the stampede and melee, which could have been prevented if the stadium and CONMEBOL had a better security plan, he said.

“People bring their kids — this is a once-in-a-lifetime deal to a lot of people,” Ast said. “This was a terrifying situation.”