The Milwaukee Brewers’ home loss to the Chicago Cubs was a gut-wrenching defeat for 11 unlucky fans on Saturday.
An escalator malfunction at American Family Field after the game left nearly a dozen people injured, six of whom were hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries, the Brewers confirmed in a statement:
“After today’s game, an escalator at American Family Field that takes fans from the Terrace to the Loge Level malfunctioned, resulting in an increased speed down the stairs. Eleven people were injured in the incident, with five receiving treatment at the stadium and six others being transported to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
Our on-site doctor and ambulance service were immediately on the scene and we are grateful for their quick response.”
Those injured are believed to have included CHGO Sports producer Greg Braggs Jr. He described the situation as a chaotic mess with the escalator breaking down and more than 100 people on it.
Well now…
I was one of them who got caught doing this thing. Much of our group was on the escalator when it completely broke down with over 100 people on it. Probably the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me.
Knee was messed up, but at the end of the day I was lucky it wasn’t worse. https://t.co/uNGVHiij6I pic.twitter.com/x92Dxh3tJH
—Greg Braggs Jr. (@GBraggsJr23) June 30, 2024
When asked for more details, Braggs provided a summary in which he portrayed the Brewers as negligent for letting too many people on the escalator:
Someone broke his thigh bone.
The whole escalator shook and everyone got scared, and then a few seconds later the whole thing collapsed and turned into a roller coaster off the rails. People piled on top of each other as it took us all to the bottom.
Some of the elderly people were seriously injured and trampled. An elderly lady was right in front of me, so I tried to hold her up when we hit the bottom, and we were both completely swept away by the people behind us. A couple of people went right through my knee.
The reason for this is that there was no one on the escalator to supervise and only an appropriate number of people were allowed on it at a time.
Waaaaay too much weight. It just gave in. It is not an escalator in a shopping center that takes up one floor. It’s longer and steeper than that.
Frankly, the stadium should be held accountable for not putting a limit on the number of people on the escalator at one time.
They are lucky that no one died.
Before the escalator incident, the Brewers were losing to the Cubs, 5–3, with Chicago outfielder Ian Happ breaking a 3–3 tie in the eighth inning with a two-run home run. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Brewers, who still hold a 6.5-game lead over the Cubs for first place in the NL Central.
