Edition: U.S. / Global

21 Die in Stampede of 1,500 at Chicago Nightclub

Published: February 18, 2003

Twenty-one people were killed and 50 more injured early this morning in a terrifying stampede that officials and witnesses said erupted at a nightclub after security guards used Mace and pepper spray to halt a fistfight between two women. 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.

James T. Joyce, commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department, said that several of the building's doors were locked or blocked during this morning's melee and that most of the victims died when they were crushed by some 1,500 people -- perhaps twice the permitted occupancy -- pouring down a single narrow staircase.

Witnesses described a horrific stampede as people fell in the stairwell and piled on top of each other. The melee was made worse because the glass front doors were shut by the crush of bodies.

''I just got trampled -- everybody was on top of me,'' said Marsha Redmon, 24, who suffered a sprained ankle after being trapped for about 30 minutes.

''I survived because I started praying,'' said Ms. Redmon, who has a 2-year-old daughter. ''I just thought, 'Who's going to take care of my baby?' There was somebody dead on top of me. He wasn't breathing. They performed CPR, but he just never came to. I thought, 'I've got to get out of here.' ''

Terry G. Hillard, superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, said there had been at least 80 incidents, including assaults and shootings, in and around the nightclub in the last three years, prompting numerous neighborhood complaints and a petition to shut the place down.

The club's owners, who were being interviewed by the police today and could not be reached for comment, had pleaded for more patrols in the area. They recently changed the music mix and relaxed the dress code.

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.

The owner of the building is Lesly Motors, a car dealership, and the liquor license is held by a corporation called Le Mirage.

''The owners chose to violate the law,'' said Cortez Trotter, director of the city's office of emergency management. ''They certainly were in violation of it this morning.''

Andre Grant, a lawyer for the club owners, said that his understanding of the court order was that it prevented the use only of a skybox above the dance floor, not the second story E2. He said that city officials must have known the club was operating because its events were widely advertised on local radio stations and that the security guards who sprayed Mace this morning were employed by Envy Entertainment, the company sponsoring the evening's festivities, not the club itself.

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.

''There are people who were trying to get out who could not get out,'' he said. ''We can't explain how management or ownership would allow that to happen. We understand that they have some tight security procedures, but we can't allow that to get in the way of safety.''

It was the nation's deadliest stampede incident in recent years. In December 1991, nine people were crushed to death in a stampede at a celebrity basketball game at City College in New York. And in December 1979 in Cincinnati, 11 people were killed trying to get into a concert by The Who. Death tolls have been larger overseas, with 53 people killed in Minsk in 1999 as they fled a rock concert.

Survivors of the stampede here described a chaotic and frantic nightmare, with people gasping for air amid the sprays as they climbed on top of each other down the stairs. The first firefighters, responding to a 911 call about a pregnant woman in distress, arrived at 2:24 a.m. to discover the mob scene.

Witnesses said that the security guards formed a human chain to try to control the crowds, and that the glass front doors were shut by the crush of bodies.

''I couldn't breathe, I was in there searching for air,'' said Chandra Spencer, 30. ''There were so many people who died in front of me. Them guards killed them people. There was no need for them to do what they did.''

Ms. Redmon said she heard the disc jockey tell the guards to use Mace after the fistfight that began near his booth began to escalate.

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.

The victims were taken to at least seven area hospitals, leaving relatives of clubgoers making a macabre hunt this morning for the missing.

''She never came home,'' Marcia Green, 27, said of her sister, Charita Rhodes, 19, as she made the rounds, returning to some hospitals twice. ''The last time she was seen was with a friend, holding hands and trying to get out of the building, but I think they got separated.

''This is not like her not to call,'' Ms. Green said. ''It looks like we are going to have to go to the morgue.''

A spokeswoman for the Cook County Medical Examiner's office said the dead, 9 men and 12 women, ages 21 to 43.

Mayor Richard M. Daley promised a full investigation. ''This was a terrible tragedy that never should have occurred,'' Mr. Daley said in a statement. ''We will take whatever steps are necessary to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.''

Fire and police officials said they were not sure whether the Mace and pepper spray contributed to the fatalities. But they said the lack of alternate exits was almost certainly to blame.

Commissioner Joyce, of the fire department, said there were no locked or blocked doors when his investigators last visited Epitome, in October. But he said the investigators examined only the first floor, since the upstairs club was supposed to be closed.

Epitome and E2, in a 16,000-square-foot landmark building two blocks from the McCormick Place convention center, opened in May 2000, replacing previous nightclub incarnations, the Clique and Hero's.

Serving American cuisine with an international flair, like filet mignon wrapped in applewood-smoked bacon with a mushroom and Shiraz reduction, the restaurant attracted black professionals and politicians, several of whom had fund-raisers there.

The nightclub, with cover charges of $15 to $100 -- it was $20 last night -- often had special events, including performances by the R & B star R. Kelly and the rapper 50 Cent.

''Though the name and décor are different, the crowd hasn't changed much,'' Ventia Griffin wrote of E2 in a review on centerstage.net. ''Be warned: It can get nasty on the dance floor; barely dressed women bump and grind with men who want to know just how low they can go.''

Dwain Kyles, a lawyer who runs the club with Calvin Hollins Jr., had in recent months urged the police department to send more officers on weekend nights to the neighborhood, known as Motor's Row, where artists live in renovated lofts with a view of the nearby public housing projects.

''We need the kind of manpower that serves as a deterrent,'' Mr. Kyles told The Chicago Sun-Times last year. ''Although we have security, some of these people really want to clown.''

Superintendent Hillard of the Chicago police said his department could not provide protection to private clubs.

Detectives interviewing hundreds of people who had been inside the club were receiving conflicting accounts of how the fight started, who sprayed Mace and why, and how people died, Superintendent Hillard said, adding that he expected to review video from the club's security cameras as part of the investigation.

Several clubgoers, as well as victims' relatives and community leaders, questioned why the club had been so crowded, why the doors were locked, and why security guards seemed to exacerbate rather than defuse the situation.

Mr. Jackson led a prayer service today at the headquarters of his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and said his organization would help coordinate funeral services, and lawsuits.

''This could have been avoided,'' said Derrick Mosley, president of a local group called Bringing About Reform, who recently complained to Mr. Kyles about overcrowding.

''The club owner was more interested in money than saving people,'' Mr. Mosley said.

Antoine Heyward, 30, a frequent patron, blamed the newly relaxed dress code.

''When you put on nice clothes and pay $10 to have your shoes polished, you're not looking for a fight,'' Mr. Heyward said. ''When you start letting just anyone come up here, you're looking for trouble.''

A dozen bouquets and three white teddy bears sat in front of the restaurant this morning, with a card that said ''We Miss You -- R.I.P. -- Keep Yo Heads Up!''

Just after noon, a young girl stopped by to add a brown teddy bear with the message, ''Our prayers are with you.''

The Rev. Ira Acree, one of several local pastors who visited hospitals this morning to counsel friends and relatives, described the grieving.

''When I went into one man's room, he fell into my arms and started crying,'' Mr. Acree said. ''A 25-year-old man crying! It was very traumatic. He was crying, 'I lost my brother, I lost my friend, I lost my neighbor.' That boy's on an emotional respirator.''

Photos: Family members of Antonio Myers, 22, who died yesterday in a stampede at E2, a Chicago nightclub. From left, they are his mother, Dorothy; his father, Archie; and his sister Anjenita. Twenty-one people were killed. (Peter Thompson for The New York Times)(pg. A1); Above, in a photograph taken from television, patrons fought to escape from a stampede in a Chicago nightclub yesterday. The melee, which began after security guards used Mace to break up a fistfight, was made worse because the club's glass front doors were shut by the crush of bodies. At left, an officer loaded a victim into a police vehicle. (Associated Press); (Peter Thompson for The New York Times)(pg. A21)