diff --git a/pkg/api/handlers/compat/events.go b/pkg/api/handlers/compat/events.go
index 5acc94153fca..c5be4bc19f3b 100644
--- a/pkg/api/handlers/compat/events.go
+++ b/pkg/api/handlers/compat/events.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
+	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/containers/libpod/v2/libpod"
 	"github.com/containers/libpod/v2/libpod/events"
@@ -17,10 +18,10 @@ import (
 
 func GetEvents(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	var (
-		fromStart   bool
-		eventsError error
-		decoder     = r.Context().Value("decoder").(*schema.Decoder)
-		runtime     = r.Context().Value("runtime").(*libpod.Runtime)
+		fromStart bool
+		decoder   = r.Context().Value("decoder").(*schema.Decoder)
+		runtime   = r.Context().Value("runtime").(*libpod.Runtime)
+		json      = jsoniter.ConfigCompatibleWithStandardLibrary // FIXME: this should happen on the package level
 	)
 
 	query := struct {
@@ -33,11 +34,16 @@ func GetEvents(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	}
 	if err := decoder.Decode(&query, r.URL.Query()); err != nil {
 		utils.Error(w, "Failed to parse parameters", http.StatusBadRequest, errors.Wrapf(err, "Failed to parse parameters for %s", r.URL.String()))
+		return
 	}
 
 	var libpodFilters = []string{}
 	if _, found := r.URL.Query()["filters"]; found {
 		for k, v := range query.Filters {
+			if len(v) == 0 {
+				utils.Error(w, "Failed to parse parameters", http.StatusBadRequest, errors.Errorf("empty value for filter %q", k))
+				return
+			}
 			libpodFilters = append(libpodFilters, fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", k, v[0]))
 		}
 	}
@@ -48,16 +54,13 @@ func GetEvents(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 
 	eventCtx, eventCancel := context.WithCancel(r.Context())
 	eventChannel := make(chan *events.Event)
+	errorChannel := make(chan error)
+
+	// Start reading events.
 	go func() {
 		readOpts := events.ReadOptions{FromStart: fromStart, Stream: query.Stream, Filters: libpodFilters, EventChannel: eventChannel, Since: query.Since, Until: query.Until}
-		eventsError = runtime.Events(eventCtx, readOpts)
+		errorChannel <- runtime.Events(eventCtx, readOpts)
 	}()
-	if eventsError != nil {
-		utils.InternalServerError(w, eventsError)
-		eventCancel()
-		close(eventChannel)
-		return
-	}
 
 	// If client disappears we need to stop listening for events
 	go func(done <-chan struct{}) {
@@ -68,24 +71,39 @@ func GetEvents(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		}
 	}(r.Context().Done())
 
-	// Headers need to be written out before turning Writer() over to json encoder
-	w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
-	w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
-	if flusher, ok := w.(http.Flusher); ok {
-		flusher.Flush()
-	}
+	var coder *jsoniter.Encoder
+	var writeHeader sync.Once
 
-	json := jsoniter.ConfigCompatibleWithStandardLibrary
-	coder := json.NewEncoder(w)
-	coder.SetEscapeHTML(true)
+	for {
+		select {
+		case err := <-errorChannel:
+			if err != nil {
+				utils.InternalServerError(w, err)
+				eventCancel()
+				close(eventChannel)
+				return
+			}
+		case evt := <-eventChannel:
+			writeHeader.Do(func() {
+				// Use a sync.Once so that we write the header
+				// only once.
+				w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+				w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+				if flusher, ok := w.(http.Flusher); ok {
+					flusher.Flush()
+				}
+				coder = json.NewEncoder(w)
+				coder.SetEscapeHTML(true)
+			})
 
-	for event := range eventChannel {
-		e := entities.ConvertToEntitiesEvent(*event)
-		if err := coder.Encode(e); err != nil {
-			logrus.Errorf("unable to write json: %q", err)
-		}
-		if flusher, ok := w.(http.Flusher); ok {
-			flusher.Flush()
+			e := entities.ConvertToEntitiesEvent(*evt)
+			if err := coder.Encode(e); err != nil {
+				logrus.Errorf("unable to write json: %q", err)
+			}
+			if flusher, ok := w.(http.Flusher); ok {
+				flusher.Flush()
+			}
 		}
+
 	}
 }