Epitome Night Club, Chicago, IL–21

lornajarrettblanchard February 17, 2003

— 21 AP. “`Mass Chaos’…nightclub in Chicago claims…21 lives.” Bryan Times, OH, 2-17-2003.

— 21 Durso, Fred Jr. “Managing the Masses. NFPA Journal, July/August 2010, pp. 71-73.

— 21 Emergency & Disaster Management, Inc. Chicago Disasters.

— 21 Palmer, J. Coyden. “10 years later E2 families seek answers.” Chicago Crusader, 2-23-2013.

— 21 Wilgoren, New York Times, February 18, 2003.

Narrative Information

AP/Loomis: “CHICAGO — Hundreds of screaming guests rushed the exits of a crowded nightclub Monday after security guards used a chemical spray to quell a fight, and at least 21 people were crushed to death or smothered in the panic, officials and witnesses said. “Firefighters responding to the scene found a number of locked or blocked doors and used sledgehammers and pry bars to open some of them so that people could be rescued, Fire Commissioner James Joyce said at a late morning briefing. “There were people trying to get out that could not get out,” Joyce said. “Locked and blocked doors are a contributing factor. We can’t explain how management or ownership would allow that.” The locked doors are a fire code violation, Joyce said.

“Twenty-one people were confirmed dead in the tragedy at the Epitome Night Club… Hospitals reported treating at least 50 for everything from critical injuries to asthma-like symptoms. “Everybody smashed; people crying, couldn’t breathe,” said clubgoer Reggie Clark. “Two ladies next to me died. A guy under me passed out.” Witnesses reported that panic broke out after the guards used pepper spray or Mace to break up a fight, but authorities did not immediately confirm that.

“There were more than 1,500 people in the two-story nightclub when someone released a chemical spray into the air sometime after 2 a.m., officials initially estimated. They could not immediately say what the legal capacity of the building was. “It appears a disturbance from within led to a mass chaos where people headed for the door. Most of the fatalities appear to have been crushed or had injuries due to suffocation,” said police Officer Ozzie Rodriguez….

“Cory Thomas, 33, went to the club to pick up two friends. As he waited outside, he saw people inside the club start to back up against the glass front door. “You could see a mound of people. People were stacking on top of each other, screaming and gagging. The door got blocked because there were too many stacked up against it.” “I saw them taking out a pregnant woman,” Thomas said. “She was in bad shape. I saw at least 10 lifeless bodies.” “Kristy Mitchell, 22, was one of the people trampled on the stairway. “People were stomping my legs,” she said. “When they pulled me up, I was dizzy and I couldn’t breathe.” Amishoov Blackwell, 30, was checking his coat on the second floor when people started rushing past him. The flow of the crowd pushed him back down the stairs and he fell on top of several people, he said. He was trapped on top of the others until firefighters rescued him about 30 minutes later. “It wasn’t nothing but two girls fighting,” Blackwell said. “Why’d they have to spray Mace?”

“The Rev. Jesse Jackson arrived at the scene early Monday and urged community members to help each other. “We are asking area ministers to go to hospitals,” Jackson said. “My people are overwhelmed with the suddenness of this….” (AP/Loomis 2003)

Wilgoren: “The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who spent much of today with relatives of victims and survivors, said those inside told him someone had yelled ”poison gas” and that fears of a terrorist attack fueled the chaos.” (Wilgoren, NYT, Feb 18, 2003)

AP/Loomis: “The president of a Chicago entertainment agency that has booked acts at the club said access to the building was unsafe for large crowds. “The doorway was obviously inadequate for an emergency,” said Ron Onesti of Onesti Entertainment Co. “When the place is filled to capacity, the doorway is very thin.”

AP/Loomis: “The melee marks one of the nation’s deadliest stampedes.” (AP/Loomis 2003)

Wilgoren: “A city lawyer said the second-story club was open in violation of a court order, a contention the club’s lawyer disputed. The authorities said they would seek criminal contempt charges as early as Tuesday against the owners of the South Side establishment for allowing people into the nightclub, E2, which sits above the upscale steak and seafood restaurant Epitome. The club, known for raucous dance parties, had been ordered shut in July because of 11 violations of fire and building codes…. Dorothy Capers, the city’s deputy corporation counsel, said officials had been in court three times since July, most recently last month, trying to enforce the order barring use of the second story, which officials said was shuttered because of shoddy rehabilitation work and stairwells and exit lights that were not up to code…. In addition to the issue of the court order, Commissioner Joyce said, the required occupancy placard was missing from the second floor, and bags of laundry were blocking several doors.” (Wilgoren, NYT, Feb 18, 2003)

Wilgoren: “A spokeswoman for the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office said the dead, 9 men and 12 women, ages 21 to 43.” (Wilgoren, NYT, Feb 18, 2003)

Durso: “….Crowd managers weren’t present at The Station. Nor had they been present at the E2 Nightclub in Chicago just days earlier, when a crowd crush killed 21 people. In the wake of those incidents, NFPA issued interim amendments to NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®, and NFPA 5000®, Building Construction and Safety Code®, that took effect in 2003. The amendments addressed assembly occupancy main entrance egress width, sprinklers in certain assembly occupancies, and limitations on festival seating. The amendments also required the presence of a trained crowd manager for every 250 people in all assembly occupancies; previous editions of the codes required crowd managers only where the occupant load exceeded 1,000 persons….” (Durso, Fred Jr. “Managing the Masses. National Fire Protection Association, NFPA Journal, July/August 2010, p. 71 of 71-73.)

Sources

Associated Press (Brandon Loomis). “`Mass Chaos’ at a nightclub in Chicago claims at least 21 lives.” Bryan Times, OH, 2-17-2003. Accessed 10-27-2015 at: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=799&dat=20030217&id=CP0vAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sEkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6410,4567611&hl=en

Durso, Fred Jr. “Managing the Masses. National Fire Protection Association, NFPA Journal, July/August 2010, pp. 71-73.

Emergency & Disaster Management Inc. “Chicago Disasters.” Accessed 1-22-2008 at: http://www.emergency-management.net/chicago_di.htm

Palmer, J. Coyden. “10 years later E2 families seek answers.” The Chicago Crusader, Vol. LXXII, No. 44, 2-23-2013, p. 1. Accessed 10-27-2015 at: http://www.chicagocrusader.com/Editions/CHICAGO%20CRUSADER%2002-23-2013sm.pdf

Wikipedia. “2003 E2 Nightclub Stampede.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_E2_nightclub_stampede

Wilgoren, Jodi. “21 Die in Stampede of 1,500 at Chicago Nightclub.” New York Times, 20-18- 2003. Accessed 5-25-2016 at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A04E7D81F3AF93BA25751C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2