Chicago nightclub-stampede video won't be released yet
By The Associated Press
02.26.03
CHICAGO — A judge yesterday barred the public, at least for a few days, from viewing a surveillance video taken inside the E2 nightclub the night 21 people died in a stampede.
Circuit Judge Daniel Lynch ordered the city of Chicago to release the video, which is a compilation of footage taken from six internal security cameras, to attorneys representing the club's owners and no one else and prohibited them from showing it to the public. But Lynch suggested he would consider arguments for general release of the tape on Feb. 28, the next scheduled court date for the case.
"There are other interests at stake here that I'm not prepared to rule on," Lynch said during a Housing Court hearing on the matter. "It's a significant issue and it shouldn't be taken lightly by the court."
Meanwhile, attorneys representing some who have filed personal injury or wrongful-death lawsuits following the Feb. 17 stampede asked another judge to release the same surveillance footage to them. Circuit Judge Diane Larsen delayed a decision on their request until tomorrow.
Attorney Thomas Royce, who represents the corporation that owns E2, said Lynch's action should prevent Larsen from releasing the tape. Royce called Lynch's decision a "gag order of the ultimate" after the hearing.
"The First Amendment is an issue at this point," Royce said. "That has to be decided."
Twenty-one people died at the E2 nightclub on the city's south side on Feb. 17, many crushed in a stampede to the front door. City attorneys said club owner Dwain Kyles did not follow a court order, which Lynch issued last summer, that prohibited the use of the second floor of the nightclub building because of housing-code violations. Saying Kyles defied the court order, the city filed criminal contempt charges against him. Kyles has pleaded innocent to the charges. Lynch is presiding over that case.
Yesterday, Deputy Corporation Counsel Dorothy Capers asked Lynch to issue an order preventing the dissemination of security tapes taken Feb. 17. She argued that the tape would show "very serious and tragic scenes."
"Justice requires that the video be protected so as to further protect the victims, their families and loved ones," she told the judge.
Andre Grant, who represents Kyles, originally argued against barring general release of the tape, but later agreed with the judge's decision.
He did say, however, that the tape would exonerate his client by showing there were about 400 people at the club the night of stampede, not 1,500 as originally estimated. He also said the tape would show no doors at the club were locked. Royce also said the tape would show that nobody was in a second-floor area that was off-limits because of the court order. However, the city maintains the order was for a much larger area than Royce contends, and that people were in an area that was off-limits.
Later yesterday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson encouraged police to release the tapes of 911 calls made between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. the night of the stampede. News footage appeared to show patrons struggling to get out of the club in full view of a line of police cars, Jackson said.
"Were they (police) there in a riot mode or a rescue mode?" Jackson asked.