No matter what the trigger event, if a panic breaks out, 100s or 1000s could die jammed in exits and pushed from upper decks.
A Dallas police officer looks around an empty American Airlines Center, after fans were evacuated following a minor kitchen fire, prior to the start of Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference Finals in Dallas, May 25, 2003. No injuries were reported although the start of the game was delayed. REUTERS/Jeff Mitchell (news)
ROBIN: The burgers should be ready in a minute.
GEORGE: Ah, great, great. <sniffs> What's that smell? Smoke? <walks to the kitchen> Hey everybody, I think I smell some smoke back here...<smoke boils into the doorway.> FIRE! FIRE! Get out of the way!
<The kids all scream and the party goes crazy. George barrels out of the kitchen, pushing down kids, clowns and old ladies in a mad panic to escape. He runs out the door and leaves everyone behind.>
Cut to George sitting in the back of an ambulance with an oxygen mask on his face.
GEORGE (to the EMTs): It was an inferno in there! An inferno! <Eric, Robin's mother, and all the kids rush at George.>
ERIC: There he is! That's him! <Tries to clobber George with his big shoe.>
ROBIN'S MOTHER: That's the coward that left us to die!
Cut back to George attempting to explain his cowardly actions to Robin, her mother, Eric and a fireman from the back of the ambulance at the party.
GEORGE (voice is hoarse from screaming): I...was trying to lead the way. We needed a leader! Someone to lead the way to safety.
ROBIN: But you yelled "get out of my way"!
GEORGE: Because! Because, as the leader...if I die...then all hope is lost! Who would lead? The clown? Instead of castigating me, you should all be thanking me. What kind of a topsy-turvy world do we live in, where heroes are cast as villains? Brave men as cowards?
ROBIN: But I saw you push the women and children out of the way in a mad panic! I saw you knock them down! And when you ran out, you left everyone behind!
GEORGE: Seemingly. Seemingly, to the untrained eye, I can fully understand how you got that impression. What looked like pushing...what looked like knocking down...was a safety precaution! In a fire, you stay close to the ground, am I right? And when I ran out that door, I was not leaving anyone behind! Oh, quite the contrary! I risked my life making sure that exit was clear. Any other questions?
FIREMAN: How do you live with yourself?
GEORGE: Its not easy.
Someone threw a match in the cooks hair, started a grease fire.
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| Sun May 25, 8:58 PM ET |
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Former NBA player Magic Johnson, second from right, joins other fans outside the American Airlines Center in Dallas after a fire alarm forced the evacuation of the arena prior to the start of game 4 of the Western Conference finals in Dallas, between the Dallas Mavericks (news) and San Antonio Spurs (news), Sunday, May 25, 2003. (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam) |