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Teens Pepper Sprayed By Security At SFOT


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During All Time Low show:

...It was during "All Time Low's" performance when things seemed to get out of control. "One of the band members took off their shirt and threw it to the audience," Tanner Holland wrote in an email to NBCDFW.com

"A group of girls who were about 15 or 16 began to fight over the shirt. Security was already on edge from all the fans running up on stage to hug the band members," Holland continued.

YouTube videos posted shortly after the concert shows what seems to be

working to keep fans off the stage and away from the band.

Six Flags security tried to diffuse the situation, once the fans started trying get that item the band member through into the audience, Six Flags Over Texas media spokesperson Sharon Parker said.

When they couldn't get the crowd under control, Parker said, they called in a nearby Arlington police officer to assist....

http://www.nbcdfw.co...w-95222884.html

See also:

http://www.examiner....adshow-in-Texas

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All Time Low Banned From Gig After Standing Up For Pepper Sprayed Fans:

...The band were due to perform at a Six Flags venue again last night, although it seems after their comments they were no longer welcome at the venue and were banned from playing the show. Alex tweeted again today: “All Time Low won’t be performing tonight. We showed up– Banned because I stood up for our fans who were victimized by security last night.”

“And now they’re telling the public that -WE- dropped off the show? Unbelievable. We were told that we “aren’t allowed to perform.”"

“I sincerely hope that kharma catches up to these degenerate liars.”

Alex also thanked fans for their support, saying: “We have the best fans out there. No one can **** with the bond we have. I love you guys. Thank you for the support.”

The tour continues on Wednesday 2nd in Arizona.

http://www.fleckingrecords.co.uk/2010/05/all-time-low-banned-from-gig-after-standing-up-for-pepper-sprayed-fans.html

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Amen to that. See this, for example:

Six Flags showed they really know how to create a PR nightmare for themselves, after fans were allegedly sprayed with pepper spray by security on Saturday (May 29) during a set by All Time Low at the Bamboozle Road Show stop in Arlington, Texas.

People had reportedly already rushed the stage during the band's last song, which put security on alert (because teenage girls are super threatening) when a small fight broke out between some fans after one of the members of All Time Low threw his shirt into the crowd. Perhaps security at Six Flags decided they couldn't handle this level of hormones, so they called in local police, who pepper sprayed the fans....

http://www.chartattack.com/news/85924/all-time-low-fans-pepper-sprayed-at-texas-show

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This whole thing is one big PR disaster. The park wasn't prepared, yet they can't admit it and instead blame everyone else.

Security should have been able to break up the fight. How can they be expected to protect park guests in an emergency if they can't break up a fight?

Surely someone knew that fans could rush the stage. Why weren't they prepared for this?

Why did the police need to use pepper spray? They're trained to handle people who are far more dangerous than wild teenagers.

Assuming the band is telling the truth about the aftermath, the park only made things worse - telling the band that they're no longer welcome, while telling the fans that the band canceled the show? That just sends a message to other bands that they should not book concerts at the park.

I feel sorry for SF's PR department. It's going to take them a while to recover from this mess...

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And it gets worse. Now the park is very careful to blame the local police for the reaction to the crowd, and to, in essence, claim the band incited the crowd behavior (by throwing out a shirt?):

...According to amusement park representative Sharon Parker, one of the bands incited the young crowd, prompting them to become rowdy.

Parker did not provide specifics about the concertgoers' actions, but in an official statement did admit that force was used to control the crowd.

"In an effort to diffuse the situation, pepper spray was used and approximately 15 guests were affected," the statement read. "Those individuals were treated by First Aid and released."

Parker said that Arlington police, not park security, brandished the weapon....

http://www.myfoxdfw....ray-Controversy

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They conveniently omit the part that says police acted only after park security was unable to handle the "rowdy" crowd. And how is it that a single officer managed to pepper spray 15 people? Did he just hold it up and spray it in the general direction of the crowd?

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Police Department Conducting A Use of Force Review:

http://www.star-tele...-arlington.html

I dont know what to think about all this. It just kinda sounds like overreaction to me. I'm no expert here, but looks to me like maybe they could have let some of that go. Lack of training maybe, or perhaps they didn't know what to expect and it just got out of hand? When I worked in San Fran, we had a meeting before every concert, depending on what type of clientele was coming in we were prepared for what to expect. Will be interesting to see how this turns out.

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I favor order over chaos (not taking any Chances here, Terpy). Still, perhaps in hindsight, if things were really that out-of-hand, cold water cannons would have been 1. more effective and 2. more appropriate, given the palpable naïveté of the formative mass. In my opinion (as one who once studied riot control), pepper spray is better employed as an assailant countermeasure, rather than as a means of subduing an emotionally charged segment of an otherwise amenable audience. Crowd control, however, is a spontaneous, unpredictable science, especially at concerts. I'd say, "Who knows", if it weren't for the inherent irony in that statement...

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I will agree with Six flags that the band did not help the situation, security was trying to protect the band. The band does have a point though, that they should not have used pepper spray on teenagers, even if they were not using any sense. I think it would have been warranted if they were attacking the security officers, and we do not know if that was the case.

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^ an unfortunate given in tour times.

Now that I've seen what led up to the incident, I'm much more supportive of their drastic measures. Things can go very wrong very quickly in rowdy situation like that. I've been at shows where the group mentality was very strong and everything got pretty out of control.

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I was also surprised to see Six Flags hosting such a vulgar talking band. For those that know me knows this does not offend me, but I was surprised at the amount of times I heard a certain F word being used in that short video. Six flags is not the right venue for that type of band IMO.

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I see a couple of things wrong here. Number 1, the band incited the behaviour by getting the crowd riled up to defy authority.

The second issue, is I only saw one guard keeping his eye on the crowd-the rest were watching the show. I worked loosely for Bill Graham in San Fran Bay area. One thing we were taught from day one, is that we were never to look at the band before, during or after the show. If he caught a guard watching the show, you really got taken out, and Bill was not someone you wanted to p*** off. I am guessing by what I observed on this video, is that the crowd noticed security's lack of training, knew they weren't paying attention, and took full advantage of it. Once security figured that out, it was too late-and the mace was probably a panic reaction since they didn't know what else to do. Now, since the band made big issue of it after the incident, this is all going to balloon into something that could have been prevented-both sides are at fault in this instance, and I guarantee if the crowd rushed the stage, the band would have been complaining about people being up there. This is a no win situation any way you look at it.

Those kids are not free of blame here either-the vulgar language doesn't make me respect them any.

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