CHICAGO OFFICIALS RELEASE TAPES OF EMERGENCY CALLS OF FEBRUARY
NIGHTCLUB STAMPEDE THAT KILLED 21
Authorities have released a tape of emergency calls made during last month’s deadly Chicago club stampede, a haunting compilation with screaming clubgoers begging for their lives and several complaining of locked doors.
”They keep telling us to go back … We cannot go back. They need to let us out,” one woman pleaded in a call from the clogged stairwell as people yelled in the background. The woman soon began to panic and screamed, ”PLEASE! PLEASE! Could you please tell them? … Please, I don’t want to die!”
Another caller said that there were padlocks on the door and that patrons couldn’t immediately get out. When emergency officials arrived at the club, security guards used a key to remove the locks, she said.
The February 17 stampede at the E2 nightclub began when an irritant was used to break up a dance-floor fight and patrons fled for the doors, crushing one another in their attempts to leave. Twenty-one people died and more than 50 were injured.
Club owners have disputed the claim that some of the doors were locked. Andre Grant, an attorney for club owner Dwain Kyles, did not immediately return calls on Monday night.
Police are investigating the incident, and no criminal charges have been filed, though several civil lawsuits have been filed against the club’s owners and the city.
The tape released on Monday by the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications contains about 30 calls. The calls on the tape were from cellphones and none were from people who later died, city representative Larry Langford said.
Many callers complained about the irritant’s effects as they coughed and gasped for air. ”I can’t breathe … my sister’s having an asthma attack (and) we cannot get out,” a woman said.
After being flooded with calls from clubgoers, an emergency dispatcher contacted fire officials. – Sapa-AP