According to several student eyewitnesses, a security officer at Friday’s Spring Fling concert used excessive force against a female concert attendee while attempting to clear an aisle.
College senior Alyssa Markenson recalled that when a young female — who did not appear intoxicated or to have provoked the guard in any way — attempted to cross the aisle from the left section to the right section near the end of Kid Cudi’s performance, one of the security guards “literally lifted her off of the ground,” placing a hand on each of her biceps.
He then threw her to the ground and forcibly dragged her out of the concert “kicking and screaming,” Markenson said.
Neither the Division of Public Safety nor the Philadelphia Police Department received reports of any incident matching this description last Friday, according to DPS spokeswoman Stef Cella and PPD Sergeant Gregory Doerr.
At one point during the incident, the woman took Markenson by the wrist and cried out for help. The guard then took Markenson’s wrist and wrenched it away.
After the woman was taken into the stadium hallway, other security guards and police arrived.
“The girl was hysterical and seemed to be fearing for her life,” Markenson, who gave an account of the incident to a police officer present, said.
“It was the most traumatizing event I’ve ever witnessed — we had to leave the concert because we were so upset,” she said.
A College senior who requested to remain anonymous also witnessed the guard’s actions.
Prior to witnessing the incident recounted by Markenson, he watched two men walk into the aisle in search of seats.
“The guard started shouting at one of the guys, who didn’t seem to know what was going on … the security guard pushed him pretty hard and dragged him by the arm outside the entrance,” he said, adding that he had seen “many other incidents where … several people were actually thrown to the floor.”
The student also left the concert after witnessing the incident, during which no one intervened.
“We were all shocked and standing there watching,” he said. “People were scared to approach the guy just because he seemed violent.”
The student and his friends left the concert shortly afterward, as they “did not feel comfortable” staying.
College senior Preston Hershorn, Vice President of the Social Planning and Events Committee, which puts on Spring Fling every year, said thus far no complaints have been made to SPEC regarding security personnel at Friday’s concert.
According to Hershorn, SPEC contracts all security out to Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC), a national crowd-management company which provides security services to many high-profile events around Philadelphia.
CSC Philadelphia Branch Manager J.P. Hayslip said the company has not yet received any reports regarding the incident.
According to CSC Associate General Counsel Rafael Armijo, all complaints CSC receives are investigated.
Hershorn said SPEC is scheduled to hold a follow-up meeting with all parties involved with the concert — including CSC, Penn Police, AlliedBarton Security and production staff — next Monday, at which point the committee may learn more about any incidents which occurred at the event.
“We’ve heard nothing from CSC, so we don’t have any further comment because we haven’t spoken with them yet,” Hershorn said.
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