During the aggressive rush to get in line for Kevin Hart’s comedy show Saturday, two individuals sustained non-life-threatening injuries, which sent one to the hospital.
Although students could not line up at Cole Field House until 5:30 p.m., a large crowd gathered earlier across the street to ensure a good spot for the Student Entertainment Events-sponsored show, University Police spokeswoman Sgt. Rosanne Hoaas said.
At the official line-up time, students dashed across the street, according to Hoaas. In the scramble of fans, at least two individuals fell and were injured as others continued to run toward the line. Medical personnel transported one individual to the hospital, Hoaas said, and the individual was released hours later. The other injured individual declined to go to the hospital.
Tish Bruce, a senior English major who arrived at 5:10 p.m., wrote in an email that two different lines formed before the official time: one near Dorchester Hall and one by the nearby bus stop.
Senior Ben Silber, who was also in line, wrote in an email that the two lines began inching toward Cole while police tried to keep them back. The dash to the official line was a “mini-stampede,” the senior mechanical engineering major wrote.
At exactly 5:30 p.m., “the line got out of control” as the eager fans ran to Cole, falling and tripping along the way, Bruce wrote.
Bruce wrote that she heard people yelling that someone was injured, and at 5:35 p.m., she wrote that she saw an ambulance arrive.
“Honestly, SEE and the police could have handled this event better,” Bruce wrote. “The line was a giant cluster. You really could not move and everyone was yelling.”
Silber agreed, and wrote that SEE should have let people line up earlier.
“If they just allowed people to line up when they arrived, instead of mobbing across the street (like at the [Duke] games), I think most of this could have been avoided,” he wrote.
Once the official line formed, Bruce wrote that people shoved one another and threw lost shoes around. Silber wrote that while police spread out the back of the line to keep things orderly, the crowd was still packed to the point that he could not move his arms.
After each SEE event, including this one, the group conducts a “post logistical report with safety management personnel,” the organization’s security director, Tony Belton, wrote in an email.
“We received a report of a safety incident during Saturday’s comedy show, and we have a number of measures in place to make safety a top priority at every SEE event,” Belton wrote.
Belton wrote that SEE works to inform students in advance of line times using social media and works with University Police to create a safe space.
