When eight acrobats suspended high above the ground at a performance in Rhode Island suddenly came crashing down in May 2014, gasps and screams ripped through the crowd of spectators. In a YouTube video of the episode, one person can be heard asking, “Were they supposed to fall like that?”They were not. On Monday, a lawyer for the injured acrobats said his clients had reached a $52.5 million settlement with the owner and operator of the arena where the performance took place. The eight performers, who were more than 20 feet up in the air, fell atop a dancer who was on the ground below. All nine were taken to a hospital, according to a statement from Feld Entertainment, which owned the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus.

Source: New York Times December 22, 2020 03:11 UTC