Legal Action Against Trophy Eyes
Trophy Eyes is facing a lawsuit from a fan who suffered partial paralysis after a stage diving incident at one of their concerts.
Incident Details
Earlier this year, a 24-year-old follower of the Australian punk band found herself partially paralyzed after frontman John Floreani jumped onto her from the stage during a concert in New York. On April 30, during a show at Mohawk Place in Buffalo, he leaped into the audience, resulting in serious injuries for fan Bird Piche that necessitated emergency surgery.
Footage from the concert circulated on social media, apparently capturing the moment Floreani dived into the crowd and landed directly on Piche. In May, Buffalo TV VKBV reported (via New York Post) that she had sustained a “catastrophic spinal cord injury.”
The band later released a statement expressing that they were “truly heartbroken” and shared a GoFundMe Campaign Link aimed at raising funds for Piche. “She faces a long recovery and will need all the help she can get,” the description for the campaign noted.
https://t.co/mzqqCkgidR pic.twitter.com/vY9OPl6CcJ
— Trophy Eyes (@tropiceyesmusic) May 3, 2024
Response and Legal Proceedings
Trophy Eyes’ initial statement indicated that the incident had “shocked us all to our core.” They added, “Please keep Byrd in your thoughts. We remain in close contact with them and will expand on this topic as more news becomes available.”
In a statement released to VKBV, the general manager of Mohawk Place mentioned that crowd surfing is prohibited and that signs are posted “everywhere.”
Currently, Piche has filed a lawsuit against Trophy Eyes, Floreani, Mohawk Place, and promoter After Dark Entertainment, LLC. According to WGRZ (via Stereogum), the lawsuit claims that the defendants acted negligently by failing to protect her from “unsafe and/or dangerous conditions.”
Trophy eyes are one of my favorites, and I'm thinking loud and clear: Bird is right. In the USA this is a lifelong disability, it's not a joke https://t.co/nzBoenOlAN
— Aletta (@captainale_) December 18, 2024
Shortly after Piche’s injury, she and her family informed NBK that she had regained limited use of her arms and legs, although she could not move her fingers or toes, and no further updates on her recovery have been provided since. The lawsuit seeks “an amount of money that exceeds the jurisdictional limits of all lower courts, together with costs and disbursements in this action.”
As previously reported by Stereogum, Trophy Eyes has a history of stage-diving incidents. After a performance in Atlanta in 2023, a fan criticized them for “encouraging mosh pits and crowd surfing,” to which the band responded in the comments: “Fuck you.”
https://www.nme.com/news/music/trophy-eyes-sued-by-fan-partially-paralysed-by-frontmans-stagedive-3823868?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=trophy-eyes-sued-by-fan-partially-paralysed-by-frontmans-stagedive
