Fairview Heights trampoline park agrees to shorten hours, increase security after fight
Sky Zone trampoline park in Fairview Heights has agreed to make changes to improve safety after a Feb. 4 fight that drew police officers from several area departments.
Local and regional company managers met with Mayor Mark Kupsky and Fairview Heights police commanders last week, according to Police Chief Steve Johnson. Both sides came with lists of possible improvements.
Sky Zone will add security personnel, put “calming plans” in place, require more parental involvement and close earlier on some nights, Johnson said.
“I was extremely pleased, and so was the mayor, with the way Sky Zone managers (reacted), how responsive they were, how concerned they were,” he told the BND Friday.
The size and scope of the fight is still unclear. Police now believe only a few youths were directly involved, not 150 as originally estimated. It apparently seemed like more to witnesses because of all the people crowding around to shoot video with cellphones.
“There were no injuries, no use of force/response to resistance by police officers and only one juvenile turned over to a parent,” Johnson wrote in a Facebook post on Feb. 8.
The police chief referred questions about details of the Sky Zone safety plan to company representatives.
A manager on duty Friday in Fairview Heights declined comment, giving a corporate email address for media inquiries. Shelby Fox, senior manager of communications, emailed on Monday that no company representatives were available to answer questions. She released the following statement:
“On February 4, 2023, an incident occurred at our Fairview Heights location caused by a few guests fighting. There were no injuries, and the situation was quickly resolved with the support of Fairview Heights Police.
“This kind of behavior is never tolerated at any of our Sky Zone locations as the health and safety of our guests is of paramount importance to us. We cooperated with local authorities during their investigation and have collaborated with them to develop enhanced safety and security measures that are already in place.”
In June 2021, Fairview Heights Alderman Ryan Vickers criticized the police department, then led by Chief Christopher Locke, for its handling of a fight between two girls at Sky Zone. He thought an officer used excessive force.
This week, Vickers commended police for their handling of the Feb. 4 fight and for working with Sky Zone to make improvements.
“We’ve got to have places for children to go and have fun,” Vickers said, noting that he personally believes no child under 12 should be dropped off and left without a parent or guardian.
Problems at other parks
A Google search reveals that fighting has been a problem at several Sky Zone trampoline parks around the country in recent years.
Most of the fights were captured on video and posted to social media. Many occurred during weekend “glow” nights, which involve jumping and dancing in the dark with lasers, black lights and music.
Police responded to three fights at Sky Zone locations in April 2022. One between middle-school girls in Grimes, Iowa, escalated when a crowd of youths surrounded them and began videotaping and cheering them on.
“The fight was an all-out brawl, worse than a bar fight, completely out of control,” one mother told a reporter with a Des Moines TV station.
The same month, a police officer was hit in the face while helping Sky Zone employees break up a fight between three women at the trampoline park in Highland Heights, Ohio.
Other fights have occurred at Sky Zone locations in Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, Kansas and elsewhere in Illinois. Some parents complained about lack of security.
Claims that fights happen “all the time” at the Fairview Heights location are untrue, according to Johnson.
“It’s not a regular thing that we get dispatched there for problems,” he said. “It is a regular thing that our officers will park their cars, get out and walk through. But we do that for many businesses, so it’s not anything out of the ordinary.”
Fairview Heights police records show that officers reported to the trampoline park for non-routine checks seven times between October 2017 and January 2023. That includes:
- Three times for traffic accidents in the parking lot.
- Once to serve an arrest warrant.
- Once on a complaint of disorderly conduct.
- Once on a battery complaint.
- Once on a call labeled “assist other agency.”
200 youths in parking lot
Fairview Heights police began receiving 911 calls about the Feb. 4 fight at Sky Zone around 10:30 p.m. The trampoline park closes at 11 p.m. on Saturdays, according to its website.
“Arriving officers had a hard time getting into the facility because so many juveniles were running out and shoving the officers,” the police department posted on its Facebook page the following day. “Officers were told numerous fights had occurred in different places inside Sky Zone.
“Officers began separating the crowd and calming individuals using deescalation techniques. About 200 juveniles were now in the parking lot with almost no parents on scene.”
Fairview Heights police called for emergency assistance from other departments in the area. About 20 additional officers arrived to help.
“Officers had to stay on scene in the parking lot for a lengthy amount of time waiting for parents to pick up their children,” the Facebook post stated.
Fairview Heights police shared information with the public quickly, even though the investigation was ongoing, because they wanted to be transparent, Johnson said, particularly after the Sky Zone fight in June 2021 that became controversial.
In that case, an internal investigation that was reviewed by the Illinois State Police and O’Fallon-Metro East branch of the NAACP found that the officer’s use of force was appropriate.
Fairview Heights officials are optimistic that changes at Sky Zone will lead to a safer environment for everyone.
“Cooperative efforts between local government, police departments and businesses can enable good things to come out of a negative situation,” Johnson wrote in his Facebook post on Feb. 8.
Media reports on fights
Here’s a list of fights at Sky Zone trampoline parks in the past five years that were reported by local media:
- February 2018 — A fight between people of all ages erupted at a Sky Zone in Highland Heights, Ohio, after a 5-year-old boy wandered onto an adult dodgeball court and got hit in the head by a ball. His mother allegedly attacked a 16-year-old and a 19-year-old.
- March 2018 — Three teenagers were arrested for disorderly conduct after a “brawl” at a Sky Zone that spilled into the courtyard of an entertainment complex in New Rochelle, New York.
- June 2019 — Youths “stomped” on a 13-year-old and another girl at a Sky Zone in Waukesha, Wisconsin. One mother called on management to hire more security.
- August 2020 — Police found a 15-year-old girl unconscious and shaking after she was knocked down and kicked in the head during a fight involving an estimated 100 youths at a Sky Zone in Canton, Ohio. Another 15-year-old girl was taken into custody due to assault allegations.
- September 2020 — Police responded to reports of a “big fight” at Sky Zone in Orland Park, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. They determined that 842 people were participating in a “lock-in” event, despite the facility’s maximum capacity of 682 under fire codes, and issued citations for multiple violations. The company later sued the village for revoking its business license and made a deal to reopen with added security, earlier closing times on weekends and no more glow nights.
- February 2021 — A fight between a 33-year-old woman and a 31-year-old woman at a Sky Zone in Madison, Wisconsin, resulted in the former being peppered sprayed and sent to the hospital for stitches.
- April 2021 — Police responded to a fight between a 9-year-old and a 10-year-old who were exchanging “racial insults” at a Sky Zone in Maple Grove, Minnesota.
- June 2021 — A 14-year-old and his friend were punched, kicked in the head and hit with a window squeegee after the former was allegedly mistaken for someone else who had called a girl a rude name at Sky Zone in Pompano Beach, Florida.
- November 2021 — Sky Zone security cleared out a trampoline park in Tampa, Florida, after a fight involving up to 200 youths, but it continued in the parking lot.
- February 2022 — A mother was arrested and accused of “starting a riot” at a Sky Zone in Fort Myers, Florida, after she allegedly entered the trampoline park to confront someone her child had been fighting earlier.
- April 2022 — Teens reportedly surrounded a police officer who was trying to break up a small fight at a Sky Zone in Topeka, Kansas. As a result, the trampoline park started prohibiting youths under 18 from entering without a parent.
- April 2022 — A police officer was hit in the face while helping Sky Zone employees break up a fight between three women at the Sky Zone in Highland Heights, Ohio. The women were charged with disorderly conduct.
- April 2022 — A large crowd of youths videotaped and cheered as middle-school girls fought at a Sky Zone in Grimes, Iowa. The Polk County sheriff told reporters his deputies had been called to the trampoline park 24 times in six months due to medical problems, thefts, assaults and fights.
- December 2022 — One youth was taken to the hospital after several were “punched and stomped” at the Sky Zone in Pompano Beach, Florida. Parents complained that a mother was partly to blame and that the trampoline park didn’t have enough security.
The Sky Zone franchise company, founded in 2004, is based in Los Angeles. It consists of more than 160 indoor trampoline parks with about 30 more under construction, according to its website. Activities include freestyle bouncing, dodgeball, laser tag and fitness programs.
The Fairview Heights location opened in 2017 at 10850 Lincoln Trail in Fairview Heights, site of the former Hobby Lobby.
This story was originally published February 14, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
