U.K. prosecutors file charges in 1989 soccer stampede

British prosecutors have charged six people over the 1989 Hillsborough stadium catastrophe, during which 96 soccer fans were crushed to death. The incident happened when more than 2,000 Liverpool soccer fans entered the standing area in the stadium, which had nearly reached its holding capacity. The prosecutors charged David Duckenfield, the police commander on duty, with gross negligence manslaughter. Norman Bettison, the former chief of South Yorkshire police, also faces charges of misconduct in public office. Police officials previously blamed the crowd for the deaths to cover how officers poorly managed the stadium crowd. The original inquest issued a ruling of accidental death, but the victims’ families lobbied for decades to get a new inquiry. Courts overturned the original verdict in 2012 after an investigation into previously secret documents uncovered police mistakes and misconduct.

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