Chase Center passes inspection after concert tragedy
Safety an issue after 1 dies, 2 hurt during Phish show
SAN FRANCISCO >> Chase Center’s seating and interior setup were declared safe and up to code Thursday by San Francisco city building inspectors, who were responding to a complaint filed following a tragedy-marred Phish concert at the venue Sunday in which one person died and two were injured in two separate incidents.
“Two of our inspectors conducted a site inspection today and found the area under investigation to be fully code-compliant, and we consider the issue closed,” Patrick Hannan, communications director of the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection, said in a statement Thursday.
A complaint was made to the Department of Building Inspection on Oct. 18, charging that the venue’s guardrails are “unsafe” and “not high enough” and that the stairs leading to the guardrails are “steep.”
The Phish concert was marred by two incidents of people falling. In the first, a 47-year-old concertgoer from Athens, New York, died after falling from an upper level.
San Francisco police have said he might have jumped, rather than falling by accident or having been pushed.
“The investigation has evidence to believe the victim leapt from an elevated area of the arena causing him to fall a significant distance, which caused his injuries,” according to a statement from the San Francisco Police Department. “Immediately before the victim leapt, he did not appear to have any physical contact with any person or barrier/railing.”
In a separate incident during the concert’s second set, one person fell and struck another fan on the floor, leaving them both with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
It’s the latter case that some fans who attended the show sited as evidence that the balcony area is unsafe at Chase Center, which is operated by the Golden State Warriors. Specifically, the concertgoers sited the steepness of the seating grade, narrow aisles between rows and plexiglass barriers that they felt should be higher.
Sara Sani, a doctor in the Department of Internal Medicine Department at UCSF, says she attended the Phish show Sunday and was a first responder to the fall during the second set.
“As a physician — and Warriors fan — I am concerned about the public safety risk that Chase Center design poses,” she told the Bay Area News Group in an email. “There will un
doubtedly be additional injuries — and deaths — if alterations are not made to this facility.”
The person who was hit by the falling fan in the second set has been identified as Evan Reeves, who reportedly broke his leg in the incident.
He told KPIX-TV that he originally was sitting up in the 200 section but moved down to the floor because he didn’t feel safe dancing in the upper seats.
“The balcony rows are supernarrow, so it’s really hard to dance at your seat without fearing that you’re going to trip and fall,” he said to KPIX. “I just decided to find another spot.”
He was concerned that the plexiglass barriers used in the upper decks aren’t tall enough.
“Those (plexiglass) walls seriously need to be more than a few inches higher,” Reeves said. “When I met my friend at my assigned seat, we were commenting to each other how low and dangerous the wall is.”
Even before Thursday’s inspection, Chase Center officials were saying that the venue is safe.
“Chase Center is a safe, state-of-the-art arena that was built and is operated in accordance with all applicable safety requirements governing facilities of its kind,” Kimberly Veale, senior director of corporate communications for Chase Center, wrote in an email. “We went through a rigorous process with the Department of Building Inspection to obtain our requisite permits to open Chase Center. Further, DBI is conducting (and we are looking forward to) an additional inspection similar to the one the venue previously passed.”
The venue has a busy schedule now that the Warriors’ season has started. The team had a scheduled home game Thursday (against the L.A. Clippers), and has games slated for Sunday (Sacramento Kings), Oct. 28 (Memphis Grizzlies) and Oct. 30 (Oklahoma City Thunder). The Chase Center also will host concerts by the Eagles today and Saturday, and James Taylor and Jackson Browne on Oct. 29.
Following Phish’s twonight Chase Center stand — last Saturday and Sunday — the band took the stage on Tuesday at the Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Oregon. During that show, vocalist-guitarist Trey Anastasio addressed the tragic turn of events two nights earlier. Phish fans are known to travel show to show with the band, making it likely that some in the stands Tuesday were also at the Sunday Chase Center event.
“I know this affected everybody, and some of the people who were nearby this event I know have a lot of feelings and experienced this thing, so I’m sending out my love to all,” he said as part of an ad. “We all are — I’m speaking for the band — sending our love to all, everybody in the whole community who experienced it.”
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