A ‘stampede’ at Oktoberfest renews call for earlier closing time, Belleville police say
A “stampede” of about 300 teenagers running through the Belleville Oktoberfest last month frightened festival goers when they screamed someone had been shot, the chief of police told city council members Tuesday in a renewed argument that downtown festivals should be shut down by 9 p.m.
There was no shooting, but a juvenile with a loaded handgun was arrested near the festival grounds by St. Clair County sheriff’s deputies on Saturday, Sept. 17, the second night of the Oktoberfest, Chief Matt Eiskant told members of the Ordinance and Legal Review Committee. The teen had been inside the festival before being arrested, he said.
A business went on lockdown during the “complete chaos” caused by the teenagers, Eiskant said.
Earlier this year, former Police Chief Bill Clay asked the council to require the downtown festivals to close at 9 p.m. instead of 11 p.m. because of public safety concerns. The council rejected that plan in an 8-5 vote.
Eiskant has brought the proposal back for discussion.
The Ordinance and Legal Review Committee voted to table the issue until its meeting next month and asked Mayor Patty Gregory to form a subcommittee that would include the police department, festival organizers and downtown business owners.
“Chief Clay predicted what happened Saturday night at the Oktoberfest,” Eiskant said. “The stampede of people that disrupted that event was unbelievable.”
Eiskant said he understands there are downtown business owners who like the crowds attracted by the festivals.
“They have a job. They have to make money. They have to feed their families and I get that 100%,” he said. “But I have to protect the citizens of Belleville … when I have 300 teenagers running through a crowd of people, running into multiple establishments downtown.”
“One establishment had to go on lockdown. Another establishment opened their doors to shelter citizens running from this mob of people. Another business had multiple juveniles running through there screaming somebody had been shot and nobody had been shot.
“It was complete chaos.”
The Belleville Police Department called for mutual aid from other police departments for assistance in dealing with the stampede, Eiskant said.
A video of the Oktoberfest incident has been shown to city council members in a closed session, but Eiskant said he could not release the video to the public because it shows the faces of juveniles. He provided no other details about what was depicted in the video.
The Belleville News-Democrat has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking a copy of the video.
“I gotta tell you, the video was disturbing,” Ward 7 Alderman Phil Elmore said. “It was absolutely heart wrenching.”
City Clerk Jenny Gain Meyer told the Ordinance and Legal Review Committee members that they couldn’t discuss the video since it was presented during a closed session of a city council meeting. The motion that was approved to allow the closed session said that “security procedures” would be discussed by the council members.
Lt. Col. Mark Heffernan, the assistant police chief, said there were 12 arrests made in connection with Oktoberfest.
These cases included eight persons arrested by St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department deputies in connection with a fight where a juvenile was in possession of a firearm. This fight occurred at the close of the Oktoberfest.
Also, Belleville officers arrested an adult on a charge of unlawful possession of a controlled substance and three juveniles were arrested on charges of fighting during Oktoberfest.
Prior problems at festivals
“This has been going on for year after year after year,” Eiskant said of security issues at festivals. He noted, however, that there were no problems with the Chili Cook-off festival this past Friday and Saturday.
Gregory echoed Eiskant’s concerns and said she supports what the department recommends.
In February after the council had rejected the plan to close festivals early, she said was “disappointed” by the vote.
Clay had told the council that police officers have had to deal with fights and “planned stampedes” at downtown festivals in recent years.
“I have my trust in the police that they know what is going on,” Gregory told council members Tuesday.
Gregory said that if there is a festival committee, it needs to have people who put a hold on “their personal agendas and what they want for themselves and think about what they want for the city and the perception of the city and the safety of these people.”
Gregory referenced the mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park near Chicago this summer when seven people were killed.
“You sit here and talk about money, money, money, money, money,” she said referring to the business owners. “You’re not going to have any money if you have events where somebody is shot.
“You think the people on the Fourth of July would have ever thought that many people would be killed at an event that would happen in their town? These are things that we cannot play with.”
Earlier closing time for festivals
Here are highlights of the plan proposed by Eiskant:
▪ Festivals would have to close at 9 p.m. with alcohol sales stopping at 8:30 p.m. They are currently allowed to stay open until 11 p.m.
▪ The council would be allowed to grant an exemption for some events if incidents decline.
▪ Parades and outdoor dining would be allowed past 9 p.m.
▪ Booths would not be allowed to sell toy or fake guns. Eiskant said there was a booth this year at the Oktoberfest where toy AR-15s were being sold.
▪ Any event where there are fewer than eight police officers assigned per day to the event would not be subject to the 9 p.m. rule.
Festival organizers and shopkeepers
Cari Frick, an organizer of Oktoberfest, declined to comment on Wednesday. No one from this festival spoke before the Ordinance and Legal Review Committee on Tuesday night.
Wendy Pfeil, president and CEO of the Greater Belleville Chamber of Commerce which hosts the Chili Cook-off, told the committee there were no public safety problems at the festival that attracted thousands of people to the Public Square and downtown streets.
“It was a completely safe event,” she said. “I understand the safety of the community, I understand where the police are coming from but there’s also the event side and the community side as well.”
Pfeil, along with several downtown merchants who spoke before the committee, urged the committee to table the proposal and instead convene a festival committee to find ways to solve the public safety issues.
Bennie Parr, owner of Bennie’s Pizza Pub at 113 E. Main St., said “Safety is everyone’s first priority.”
He urged the council to form a safety panel to study ways to “generate reasonable solutions to fix the isolated incidents.”
Parr suggested there be designated entrance points but Eiskant said that would be difficult to staff.
Also, Parr suggested officials could find a compromise by meeting “in the middle” regarding the closing time. If the festivals moved from downtown Belleville to another location or canceled the events, he said, it would have “catastrophic effects.”
“These non-for-profit groups will lose desperately needed funds to operate,” said Parr.
Parr said the downtown restaurants, bars and stores would be hurt should the events wind up canceled due to safety concerns.
“The economic impact of losing these events would be devastating. My business alone would suffer $75,000 to $100,000 in loss losing these events” he said.
Andria Powell, owner of Circa Boutique at 128 E. Main St., said the sales at her shop during the fall festivals parallels what she has during the Christmas shopping season.
If the festivals left downtown, “That would affect our business greatly,” she said.
Root cause of the crimes
Ward 3 Alderman Kent Randle, a member of the Ordinance and Legal Review Committee, raised the point that the disturbance at the Oktoberfest was caused by a small percentage of the people who actually attended the festival.
The problem is a “lot deeper than 300 kids wanting to create a mess,” he said.
“It’s something that we’re not going to solve as a city council,” he said. “It goes much deeper in terms of that problem behavior, where it begins, how do you deal with it, what point in time can you get your arms wrapped around it to show them the different direction.
“We’re not going to solve all that as a city council.”
This story was originally published October 12, 2022 at 1:56 PM.
