Police: Man who died at Phish concert did not hit railing
Oct 19, 2021, 6:18 PM | Updated: 6:43 pm
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco police say a concert-goer who fell to his death from the upper level of a basketball arena is believed to have “leapt from an elevated area of the arena,” causing his death.
“Immediately before the victim leapt, he did not appear to have any physical contact with any person or barrier/railing,” Officer Grace Gatpandan said in a statement Tuesday.
The American jam band Phish, which has devoted fans across the country, was performing at Chase Center Sunday when on-duty officers were alerted shortly before 9 p.m. to a man who had apparently fallen and needed medical help, police said. The 47-year-old man died.
Nearly an hour later at 9:45 p.m., on-duty officers were alerted to another man who had fallen. He was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, as was a man he fell on. Police have not provided any details about what caused that incident.
Chase Center is home to the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
A spokesperson for the venue and the Warriors told the San Francisco Chronicle that the arena was safe.
“Chase Center was built and is operated in accordance with all safety standards and requirements governing facilities of its kind in the state of California and the city and county of San Francisco,” Kimberly Veale said.
The man who was injured by the second fall told CBS affiliate KPIX that he had moved from his assigned seat in an upper tier to a flatter, more protected area because he “didn’t feel safe dancing there.” Evan Reeves of Oakland, whose leg was injured by the fall, received permission from an on-site doctor to watch the rest of the show while waiting for his wife to pick him up and take him to a hospital.
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