The crowd may have been tamer than expected, but that did not stop a law enforcement officer from firing pepper spray as a few dozen fans rushed the stage at the end of Turnstile’s performance on Brown’s Island on the night of Sept. 24.
A video of the incident shows about a dozen or more people crowd surfing and getting on the stage as the popular Baltimore band ripped into the finale of “Birds,” the single from its new album that features a music video of a similar scene at a live performance.
While one private security guard tried to stop a fan from climbing on stage, two of the band members intervened and invited him up. Moments later, as another fan was hoisting himself to join the small crowd on the stage, a uniformed officer aimed directly for his face. The chemicals wafted through the crowd. The band’s bassist also seemed affected.
“I was in very close proximity. I heard it, I smelled it and tasted it. Immediately people were screaming,” says Bobby Egger, owner of the record store Vinyl Conflict.
Only those near the front of the stage immediately noticed the brief incident. As the video circulated online the next day, however, it prompted numerous fans to question the use of force.
The Richmond Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to questions from Style Weekly on Friday, but Sheriff Antionette Irving told television station WTVR that it has opened an investigation. An official from the Broadberry Entertainment Group, the company that organized the show, declined to comment.
Egger says it was unusual to see uniformed law enforcement officers between the stage and barricade Wednesday. Deputies are often detailed to concerts at the island, but typically posted near entrances, exits and around tables for alcohol and merchandise sales.
He explains that it seemed especially egregious as the deputy involved in the incident kept his hands on the pepper spray while other guards attempted to catch crowd surfers and prevent injuries. The fan who was sprayed in the face, he says, showed no outwardly hostile intention. “He’s not like, gunning for somebody,” Egger says. “He was in a very vulnerable position.”
Egger says members of Turnstile’s team told him the fan hit by the spray is 15 years old. A Reddit post about the incident includes a comment purportedly from the fan’s father, describing what happened and how they interacted with the band afterward. A spokesperson for Turnstile did not immediately respond to questions Friday evening.
Fans getting on stage and diving into the crowd has been common at many of Turnstile’s shows throughout the band’s history. Though typically violent at many hardcore punk shows, the band has attempted to make it a more friendly practice with younger children and their parents often getting on the stage.
Egger says he fears that many who see the video or read about the incident could misinterpret what was happening. He adds that Broadberry Group’s staff and private security firm RMC Events appeared ready for a raucous crowd, but the sheriff’s deputies seemed unprepared for the finale.
“We claim to be this ‘music city’ … but then you’re gonna treat your audience like that?” he says. “I just don’t think this is something that gets to be ignored.”
