A girl reportedly screaming about an insect sparked an escalator stampede following a Beyoncé concert in Atlanta early Tuesday, leaving nearly a dozen people injured.
People were leaving the concert at Mercedes-Benz Stadium when a person “began screaming and running,” causing a mass panic just after midnight, Stephany Fisher, senior director of communications for the city’s Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), said in an email citing police.
The escalator, now packed with people, temporarily sped up and then stopped suddenly, she added.
“One person suffered a broken ankle, seven people were transported to the hospital with cuts and scrapes, and one person declined transport. Two people requested medical assistance after reaching their destinations,” said Fisher.
MARTA police chief Scott Kreher, speaking to local station 11 Alive, blamed a cockroach or “palmetto bug” for sparking the 10-year-old girl’s panic.
A video posted on TikTok claiming to have captured the chaos shows people screaming while tightly packed on a motionless escalator. One person appears to gasp while trapped under bodies.
CEO Rhonda Allen told the MARTA board on Thursday that the escalator had passed an inspection days earlier but that the weight and sudden movement from the heavy flow of people caused it to malfunction, 11 Alive reported.
“We’re going to have a more aggressive approach to how we’re staffing these events,” Allen said.
The escalator was barricaded and is being reviewed by the escalator manufacturer, Schindler, and MARTA Safety, said Fisher.