The Milwaukee Brewers’ home loss to the Chicago Cubs went from bad to worse for 11 unlucky fans on Saturday.
An escalator malfunction at American Family Field after the game left nearly a dozen people injured, with six requiring hospitalization for non-life-threatening injuries, the Brewers said. confirmed in a statement:
“Following the conclusion of today’s game, an escalator at American Family Field transporting fans from the Terrace to the Loge level failed, causing an increase in descent speed. Eleven people were injured in the incident, five of them were treated at the stadium and six others were transported to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
“Our doctor and emergency medical personnel responded to the scene immediately and we appreciate their quick response.”
The injured group apparently included CHGO Sports producer Greg Braggs Jr., who described the scene as a chaotic accident in which the escalator gave way with more than 100 people on it.
Good…
I was one of the ones who got caught up in this thing. A large portion of our group was on the escalator when it completely collapsed with over 100 people on it. It’s probably the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me in my life.
I screwed up my knee but I was lucky in the end that it wasn’t worse. https://t.co/uNGVHiij6I pic.twitter.com/x92Dxh3tJH
-Greg Braggs Jr. (@GBraggsJr23) June 30, 2024
Pressed for more details, Braggs provided a summary who described the Brewers as negligent for allowing too many people on the escalators:
Someone broke their femur.
The whole escalator shook and everyone freaked out, and seconds later, everything gave way and turned into a roller coaster that went off the rails. People piled on top of each other as we all went down the stairs.
Some elderly people were seriously injured and trampled. An older lady was right in front of me, so I tried to hold her up as we hit the bottom, and the people behind us completely defeated us. A couple of people ran through my knee.
The reason this happened was because there was no one working there to monitor the escalator and only an appropriate amount of people were allowed on it at a time.
Too much weight. She just relented. It’s not a single-story mall escalator. It’s longer and steeper than that.
Honestly, the stadium should be responsible for not having a limit on the number of people on the escalators at the same time.
They are lucky that no one died.
Before the escalator incident, the Brewers lost 5-3 to the Cubs, and Chicago outfielder Ian Happ broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning with a two-run home run. The loss snapped a five-game losing streak for the Brewers, who remain 6.5 games ahead of the Cubs for first place in the NL Central.