This morning, Frank Librio, spokesman for the city, called to say that at 10 this morning, officials with the city, the Dallas Police Department and Dallas Fire-Rescue were meeting to review the events leading to the likely drug overdose of 19-year-old Andrew James Graf and the hospitalization of 30 others Saturday night, during the Electric Daisy Carnival at Fair Park. He said before day's end, we would receive the city's official recap; it just arrived.
It is, more or less, a time line of what occurred; also attached was a copy of concert promoter Insomniac's contract with the city, which Pete will post on DC9, where he's already had a couple of updates today -- including Schutze's piece explaining why exactly he attended Saturday night. The city also included its best-guesstimate head count: 21,000 -- which is less than half of what Fair Park's maximum occupancy was set at for the occasion (42,927).
The city's recap, which includes the number of officers originally assigned to the event and indicates that things began going south around 8:30 p.m., follows.
Update at 4:07 p.m.: Librio sends this addendum: "In all, there were 7 citations issued to the representative of Insomniac
Incorporated. Two were issued for overcrowding, two more for failure to
obtain a count of occupants and three for obstruction of justice."
Update at 4:50 p.m.: I asked Librio to explain the citations given to Insomniac. He does so after the jump.
This is what Librio said, via email, when asked about the citations:
Despite the fact that the overall number of attendees was not surpassed, each building had its own occupancy load, and those of the Centennial and Automobile buildings were exceeded.Now, to the earlier press release:
Specifically, the area around the stage in the Centennial Building was overcrowded, and the entire Automobile building was overcrowded.
Occupancy loads were determined by fire inspectors using a 15 square foot per person basis as follows:
Centennial Building - 4, 791
Automobile Building - 5, 463
Outside area - 32, 673I couldn't tell you exactly how many people were in the Centennial and Automobile buildings, but it was determined by fire inspectors that it was more than the listed limits.
The obstruction of justice came as a result of refusing to comply with turning on the lights and turning down the music for better crowd control.
To: Media
From: City of Dallas PIO
Re: Fair Park Event Update
City officials will continue to monitor and evaluate the conditions under which events will be held at Fair Park. As with all events, we continue to review applications, check references and follow all public assembly safety requirements.
The Electric Daisy Carnival was held at Fair Park on June 18th, 2011. Event time was 4:00 PM to 2:00 AM. The foot-print of the event consisted of the Centennial and Automobile Buildings, the Esplanade between the two buildings as well as the area north of the Esplanade to the northern boundaries of Fair Park. The site's maximum occupancy was established at 42,927.
This was the second year for the event at Fair Park. The 2010 event, held on June 19, 2010, drew 11,000 patrons, 4,000 under expected attendance of 15,000. The 2010 event was staffed with 20 off-duty Dallas Police Officers. There were no offenses reported during the 2010 event, 1 arrest was made for narcotics possession, and 1 patron was transported to the hospital for a possible drug overdose.
Police staffing for the 2011 event was based on an attendance figure of 22,000. Anticipated attendance was 18,000 to 20,000. Staffing consisted of 36 off-duty Dallas Police Officers (2 Lieutenants, 3 Sergeants, and 31 Police Officers) Dallas Fire Rescue initial staffing: 10 medics, 2 Polaris, Rescue 75, and Recue 78 hired by Platinum Security.
A Command Post was established inside the Automobile Building. The CP was staffed by DPD, DFR, Fair Park representative, and Platinum Security. A Unified Command System was established. Estimated total attendance was between 21,000 and 24,000. The last hard count received at 11:00 PM on the event day was 21,000.
From 4:00 PM, when the event opened, to 8:00 PM there was a constant flow of patrons entering the venue. During this time frame there were no police related incidents; DFR had transported 2 to 3 patrons for possible heat/drug related issues.
At 8:00PM patrons were continuing to arrive and DFR recognized the need to increase their staffing levels. A DFR Section Chief was notified of the situation by Lieutenant Cook of DFR and responded to the location.
At approximately 8:30 PM Lieutenant Dortch was notified of the death related transport. Patrons were continuing to arrive in a steady manner. Central Patrol Division was contacted and 4th watch elements were assigned to the perimeter of Fair Park to monitor patrons entering the park. Additionally, Central Patrol Division was notified to place a response team on stand-by for precautionary measures. A call was placed for and additional sergeant and 10 officers for supplementary staffing for the remainder of the event. By 11:00 PM total off-duty staffing had increased to a total of 47 DPD officers. The on duty resources were notified and additional off-duty staffing was increased due to the flow of patrons arriving at the venue.
At approximately 10:30 PM the DPD incident commander, DFR, and Doctor Benitez met concerning the public health aspect of this event. By then there had been 12 to 15 transports as well one possible drug related death. All parties agreed the event could be suspended due to public health issues, however concerns of civil unrest possibly arising due to abruptly ending the event was also discussed. Unified Command decided not to enact a "hard close" of the event, but developed a plan to enact a "soft close" (gradual early close of the event). Ticket sales were stopped at this time thus closing the event to new arrivals.
Deputy Chief Watson, Duty Commander, was contacted at 11:15 PM and apprised of the situation. He responded immediately and was at the location by 11:30 PM.
The "soft close" plan was enacted at 12:00 AM and the Centennial Building portion of the venue was secured by 12:30AM with no incidents.
A "soft close" of the Automobile Building was enacted at 1:00 AM and the building was secure at 1:30AM with no incidents. By 1:30 AM approximately one third of the patrons had exited the venue with no incidents.
The outside portion of the event closed at 2:00 AM in an orderly manner.
There were not reported offenses related to this event. Two arrests were made: 1 - Public Intoxication and 1 - Possession of MDMA (ecstasy)
A total 30 people were transported for heat, drug and alcohol related issues.
DPD staffing was dismissed at 2:45AM. DFR staffing was dismissed at 3:30 AM.
