Tuesday, September 21, 1999
Incident won't stop future street fests
But officials will review safety
BY TANYA ALBERT and DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cowperthwaite
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A driver who plowed through a barricade and injured 28 people at Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati Sunday night doesn't threaten the future of Cincinnati street celebrations, police, organizers and city officials said Monday.
Police are calling the incident an isolated event that would have been near-impossible to prevent at any downtown street event. Still, as Oktoberfest organizers and police sit down for their annual post-event review, they'll talk about whether anything could be done to make street festivals safer.
“Quite frankly, it's a real safe event,” said Cincinnati police Capt. Vince Demasi. “It was a freak accident. It's like any other random act of violence.”
At 8:13 p.m. Sunday, the driver of a red Chevrolet Beretta broke through a barricade on Main Street, in jured a police officer, struck a bicycle rack barrier at Government Alley and hit 27 pedestrians on Main Street. The driver stopped after colliding with a taxicab just south of the Fourth Street intersection.
Michael Cowperthwaite, 25, of the 500 block of of Berdale Lane, Union Township in Clermont County, will be in court today to face charges of aggravated vehicular assault, driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident, disregarding a police officer's signal and driving the wrong way on a one-way street.
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OFFICIALS LOOKING FOR WHITE CAR
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Investigators are seeking the owner of a parked car that was hit on Walnut Street. That car left the scene while police were chasing the red Chevy Beretta. The car was a white sedan with minor damage to the right rear; it possibly was a Pontiac Grand Am.
Anyone who knows its whereabouts — or any other details of the crash — is asked to call police at 352-2514. |
He was treated at University Hospital early Mondayfor facial injuries sustained in the incident. He is to be arraigned at 9 a.m. today in the Hamilton County Justice Center. The 28 others injured Sunday night were treated and released.
Mr. Cowperthwaite was charged in Clermont County in December with theft of a car from a Milford car dealership, said Ted Rudd, assistant clerk of Clermont County Common Pleas and Municipal courts. A judge dropped that charge when Mr. Cowperthwaite agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle. He was fined $500, placed on proba tion for a year and ordered to pay $500 in restitution to the car dealer, Mr. Rudd said.
He also has been cited for minor traffic offenses, Mr. Rudd said.
It was unclear Monday if Mr. Cowperthwaite attended Oktoberfest. He told police he had four beers at a “downtown, outdoor event.” But during police questioning, he never said that he was at Oktoberfest, Capt. Demasi said.
The incident will not do permanent damage to the weekend festival attended by more half a million people.
“While we are alarmed and saddened and our prayers are out for all those injured ... there's nothing in my mind that could have been done,” said Cincinnati City Councilman Tyrone Yates. “We ought to take the view of not being overly reactive.
“Closing down Oktoberfest just won't happen,” he said.
This was the 24th annual Oktoberfest. And the popular Cincinnati event that attracts families has never had an incident like this one. In the past few years, the biggest incident was someone stealing a golf cart and taking it for a ride, said Teri Gasper, vice president of the Greater Cincinnati Area Chamber of Commerce in charge of the Downtown Council, which sponsors Oktoberfest.
“It's a 24-year-old event with a wonderful safety record,” she said. “But we need to say, "How can we work continually to make it safer?'”
Oktoberfest organizers work with police and fire department officials while they plan the event throughout the year.
Police officers are at event entrances. There are sawhorse barricades and bicycle rack barricades. Concrete barriers aren't feasible because they're too hard to move if emergency vehicles need to get through, police said. There's a designated driver booth, and beer captains at the event are trained to recognize and stop serving people who have had too much to drink.
“It was a freak, total freak (accident),” Cincinnati City Councilman Jim Tarbell said. “It didn't have anything to do with Oktoberfest.”
But Cincinnati City Councilwoman Jeanette Cissell said this is a wake-up call to evaluate street events and look for anything that could be done more safely. She introduced motions Monday calling for the city to look at different barricades, such as netting, and offering taxi rides home.
“I'm not suggesting putting a wall around the festival,” she said. “But it is an opportunity to look into measures that would ensure citizens who go to the events are safe.”
The best way to avoid any more such incidents, several people said Monday, would be to hold events in the riverfront park that is to open in 2005 or 2006.
“This appears to be an isolated incident,” said Councilman Phil Heimlich. “But there is always some risk when you have events in the street.”
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