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11 injured after escalator malfunction at American Family Field following Brewers game against Cubs

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11 injured after escalator malfunction at American Family Field following Brewers game against Cubs

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An escalator malfunction at American Family Field resulted in 11 people being injured following the Milwaukee Brewers 5-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Saturday afternoon.

In a statement, Tyler Barnes, the senior VP of communications and affiliate operations for the Brewers said: “After the conclusion of today’s game, an escalator at American Family Field moving fans from the Terrace to Loge Level malfunctioned, resulting in an increased downward speed. Eleven people were injured in the incident, five of them treated at the ballpark and six others transported to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. Our onsite physician and EMS were on the scene immediately, and we are appreciative of their quick response.”

Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said Saturday he doesn’t recall “any such emergencies” like an escalator malfunction in the past at American Family Field. He said his department gets called to the ballpark for elevator entrapments. “But those happen everywhere,” he said.

WHAT WE KNOW: The latest on the Brewers escalator accident at American Family Field

Kaylee Klein, who was at the game with her boyfriend and his family and friends, said when the game ended, she and her group were waiting for fans to leave the section they were in. She said they were in line to get on the escalator but it was “such a long line,” estimating at least 100 were waiting to get on and that at least 20 people were on the escalator. She said the escalator was the one outside of section 425 to 427.

“While we were in line, we heard a screeching sound, which then led to about five to 10 seconds later the escalator picking up speed to probably about 10 to 15 miles per hour,” Klein said in a phone interview. “Then from the top where we were on the fourth level, we just saw fans like just plummeting down basically. Then someone else that was up there clicked the emergency stop button and I had yelled for everybody to back up from the area.”

Klein said the screeching noise was like “the sound when someone’s leg goes up against glass and they slide.”

“I said to my boyfriend, ‘I don’t think it’s supposed to make that sound’ and seconds later, it was everyone going down. It was kind of like a oh s— moment because you don’t really expect to see that or hear of it exactly,” Klein said.

Klein said people then started heading over to the stairs to the left of the escalator and had to take those steps down to exit and witnessed people injured once she reached the second floor.

“I looked over at the bottom and I saw at least three people injured and one person who just looked upset on the right of me,” she said. “I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on there. It looked like it was two people who had their leg or ankles injured. I saw the stretcher but I didn’t see the exact injury of the person who was going on the stretcher.”

Klein said she’s been playing the incident back in her head since it happened. She said that “she probably will never go on an escalator there again.”

“I think a huge part of it was how many people were on the escalator. I think that may have had something to do with it. I obviously don’t know for sure because I wasn’t part of the stadium crew or anything like that. I probably won’t go on the escalators there again. I’ll probably just take the stairs,” Klein said.

Attendance at the game Saturday was listed as 42,238. First pitch was 3:11 p.m., with a game time of 2 hours 33 minutes.

Drake Bentley of the Journal Sentinel contributed to this story.

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