A Milwaukee Brewers home loss to the Chicago Cubs went from bad to worse for 11 unfortunate fans on Saturday.
An escalator malfunction at American Family Field after the game caused nearly a dozen people to be injured, with six requiring hospitalization due to non-life-threatening injuries, the Brewers confirmed in a statement:
“After the conclusion of today’s game, an escalator at American Family Field moving fans from the Terrace to Loge Level malfunctioned, resulting in an increased downward speed. Eleven people were injured in the incident, five of them treated at the ballpark and six others transported to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
Our onsite physician and EMS were on the scene immediately, and we are appreciative of their quick response.”
The injured group apparently included CHGO Sports producer Greg Braggs Jr., who described the scene as a chaotic mess in which the escalator gave way with more than 100 people on it.
Welp…
I was one of them caught on this thing. A big portion of our group was on the escalator as it completely gave way with over 100 ppl on it. Probably the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me.
Knee got messed up but at the end of the day, I got lucky it wasn’t worse. https://t.co/uNGVHiij6I pic.twitter.com/x92Dxh3tJH
— Greg Braggs Jr. (@GBraggsJr23) June 30, 2024
Pressed for more detail, Braggs provided a recap that painted the Brewers as negligent for allowing too many people onto the escalator:
Someone broke their femur.
The entire escalator shook and everyone got scared, and then seconds later, the whole thing gave way and just turned into a roller coaster off the tracks. Piling people on top of each other as it charged us all to the bottom.
Some elderly people were injured very badly and trampled over. An older lady was right in front of me, so I tried to hold her up as we hit the bottom, and we both got completely taken out by the people behind us. A couple of people went right through my knee.
The reason this happened was because there was no one working there that monitors the escalator and only allowing a proper amount of people on it at one time.
Way too much weight. It just gave way. It’s not a mall escalator that is one floor. It’s longer and steeper than that.
Honestly, the stadium has to be held accountable for not holding a limit to the amount people on the escalator at one time.
They are lucky no one died.
Before the escalator incident, the Brewers lost 5-3 to the Cubs, with Chicago outfielder Ian Happ breaking a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning with a two-run homer. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Brewers, who remain 6.5 games ahead of the Cubs for first place in the NL Central.