Dominion Disturbances
- Thread starter horsesboy
- Start date
I visited Haunt all three nights this past weekend. And though Saturday was by far the craziest, it didn't seem (in my opinion) to be anywhere near as bad as the various news and social media reports are making it seem.
As others have noted, thunderstorms and heavy rain closed most attractions Saturday evening. The rain was so heavy at times that most people were huddled under whatever shelter they could find; which likely didn't help things, as large groups of people were forced into compacted areas. (Note, I was wearing a poncho and freely moving around the park.)
When walking up through Cleaver Brothers (towards the direction of the Arcade), and having just walked past the former Subway location, I noticed a group of 50 or so (maybe more) kids/teenagers/young adults just ahead, near the Arcade's entrance.
Within the span of roughly 5 seconds they all started -what appeared to be a "coordinated"- mass stampede running down CAG, towards the direction of Victoria's. Being directly in their path, I simply turned sideways to reduce my surface area, and let the crowd run pass me. Thankfully there were limited people on the path at that time - especially in comparison to earlier before the rains, when the pathways were jam-packed.
Then just moments later, one uniformed police officer and several KD security personnel began chasing after the mob, yelling for them to stop.
After that I did not note where everyone went. But I imagine some may have ducked in Victoria's (possibly overturning some tables noted in reports). Otherwise I imagine most of the mob started breaking up into different directions, thus complicating security's response.
So though there may have been additional incidents across the park that night. It's also possible that this stampede is what directly prompted security to 'cleanup' the park; ejecting those from the event, along with others not being directly chaperoned.
Either way, I was hugely impressed by how responsive security was to the CAG event I witnessed -- where not too many years ago, crowd events like this would go largely unchecked in comparison, as the park just did not have -and arguably, did not need- the security presence as they do now.
As others have noted, thunderstorms and heavy rain closed most attractions Saturday evening. The rain was so heavy at times that most people were huddled under whatever shelter they could find; which likely didn't help things, as large groups of people were forced into compacted areas. (Note, I was wearing a poncho and freely moving around the park.)
When walking up through Cleaver Brothers (towards the direction of the Arcade), and having just walked past the former Subway location, I noticed a group of 50 or so (maybe more) kids/teenagers/young adults just ahead, near the Arcade's entrance.
Within the span of roughly 5 seconds they all started -what appeared to be a "coordinated"- mass stampede running down CAG, towards the direction of Victoria's. Being directly in their path, I simply turned sideways to reduce my surface area, and let the crowd run pass me. Thankfully there were limited people on the path at that time - especially in comparison to earlier before the rains, when the pathways were jam-packed.
Then just moments later, one uniformed police officer and several KD security personnel began chasing after the mob, yelling for them to stop.
After that I did not note where everyone went. But I imagine some may have ducked in Victoria's (possibly overturning some tables noted in reports). Otherwise I imagine most of the mob started breaking up into different directions, thus complicating security's response.
So though there may have been additional incidents across the park that night. It's also possible that this stampede is what directly prompted security to 'cleanup' the park; ejecting those from the event, along with others not being directly chaperoned.
Either way, I was hugely impressed by how responsive security was to the CAG event I witnessed -- where not too many years ago, crowd events like this would go largely unchecked in comparison, as the park just did not have -and arguably, did not need- the security presence as they do now.
Yeah honestly this is more or less a standard corporate statement to employees after an event. I probably have seen the same type of statements at least a dozen times if not more in the last few years a lone. A couple things on this one it doesn't mean that they are actively monitoring employees social media or even that a general statement on any employees social media would result in disappearing buy it the type of thing that HR is going to send out after an event to cover themselves as having provided a warning if they sed a post pop up that they feel they need to take action on. KDfans tweet seems to be a little over dramatic of a response to that email.
Do note that it wasn't sent by KD HR, it was sent by a member of Haunt leadership.
If I was working somewhere where 300+ people had to be escorted out by police after two hours of "mass chaos" and my supervisor's statement to their workforce was "you all better keep quiet," I'd have a pretty major problem with that. I think most people would.
Like the tweet says, it can be just fine for KD to highlight the media policy in a situation like this, but that should come alongside support, appreciation, and an offering of a safe, KD-approved way to make concerns known to management. KD employees didn't sign up for a job that involves what has been described by law enforcement as having occurred Saturday.
I appreciate that peoples' personal experiences have differed per what they did or didn't see and I super appreciate seeing testimonies from people who were on the ground as guests because it gives an idea of how much uninvolved parties were likely effected. That said, I firmly believe the most authoritative description of what occured is coming from the law enforcement officials that responded to and dealt with the issues in question. They described it as two hours of "mass chaos." I'd need to see some pretty hefty evidence to believe law enforcement is out there lying to the press about it.
If I was working somewhere where 300+ people had to be escorted out by police after two hours of "mass chaos" and my supervisor's statement to their workforce was "you all better keep quiet," I'd have a pretty major problem with that. I think most people would.
Like the tweet says, it can be just fine for KD to highlight the media policy in a situation like this, but that should come alongside support, appreciation, and an offering of a safe, KD-approved way to make concerns known to management. KD employees didn't sign up for a job that involves what has been described by law enforcement as having occurred Saturday.
I appreciate that peoples' personal experiences have differed per what they did or didn't see and I super appreciate seeing testimonies from people who were on the ground as guests because it gives an idea of how much uninvolved parties were likely effected. That said, I firmly believe the most authoritative description of what occured is coming from the law enforcement officials that responded to and dealt with the issues in question. They described it as two hours of "mass chaos." I'd need to see some pretty hefty evidence to believe law enforcement is out there lying to the press about it.
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Regardless of the internal policies on employees talking externally, KD needs to have a serious consideration about what this event is and who is coming to the park. 300 people is something like 2-4% of their attendees. That's a huge part of their attendance, not just a few bad apples. However if they don't deal with this group, the other 95% are going to stop coming or come much less, costing even more.
All kinds of things need to be under consideration whether it's a much stricter chaperone policy, park bans for violations, attendance limits, etc. This isn't going to get better on its own.
All kinds of things need to be under consideration whether it's a much stricter chaperone policy, park bans for violations, attendance limits, etc. This isn't going to get better on its own.
A friend of mine sent me a link to a Fox News article reporting the brawl at Kings Dominion. I am not sharing because NOPE no clicks for them. But oh no this is getting national attention now.
archive.org link for anybody that wants to read it without supporting Fox News:
Seems mostly the same as the abc8 story, only new detail I'm seeing is that the 300 number was the overall estimated crowd size in the arcade put over the radio and there was only "a handful of people fighting"
Seems mostly the same as the abc8 story, only new detail I'm seeing is that the 300 number was the overall estimated crowd size in the arcade put over the radio and there was only "a handful of people fighting"
Relevant quote from the officer:
www.foxnews.com
Kings Dominion Halloween Haunt event breaks down into ‘mass chaos’ as teens brawl, police say
The Halloween Haunt event at the Kings Dominion theme park in Virginia erupted into "mass chaos" this past weekend as teens began fighting, police say.
www.foxnews.com
Thank you FoxNews for actually bringing facts to journalism. I'm glad to see at least one news station do some research before reporting.Relevant quote from the officer:
Kings Dominion Halloween Haunt event breaks down into ‘mass chaos’ as teens brawl, police say
The Halloween Haunt event at the Kings Dominion theme park in Virginia erupted into "mass chaos" this past weekend as teens began fighting, police say.
What a deeply weird comment. You do realize that a good dozen+ other news outlets reported their own stories with their own quotes from local law enforcement and the park first, right...?
Fox News Digital's article is fine, but it's only remarkable because it has elevated the story to the national level. They didn't uncover anything even remotely novel—our quality, local, Virginian journalists are the ones who laid out the reporting blueprint for the story. Fox News Digital just followed that blueprint. Your praise should be for our high quality, local journalists who ACTUALLY reported out this story originally.
You don't consider quotes from the responding Officer with details not yet reported to be novel? What is deeply weird is how some on this site refuse to provide a link to a news provider just because of their personal bias, regardless of the story.
Responding officers have been quoted in all of the stories I've read and they have been consistently sharing most all the same information each time. There's nothing particularly impressive in Fox News Digital's work. Like I said, it's perfectly normal, fine, solid journalism—I have no objections to their work here—but to single this article out as some great work while demeaning the work of all of the great, local journalists who actually broke and reported out this story is just very, very weird.
Though I will happily defend people's right not to link to a website they find morally reprehensible (if you want to have that argument, we can do so in Pointless Discussions), you will note that I linked the article in question. I have no objection to the journalism Fox News Digital did here. I just object to you demeaning the work of the local journalists who actually brought us this story.
Though I will happily defend people's right not to link to a website they find morally reprehensible (if you want to have that argument, we can do so in Pointless Discussions), you will note that I linked the article in question. I have no objection to the journalism Fox News Digital did here. I just object to you demeaning the work of the local journalists who actually brought us this story.
The local journalists may have brought the story, but they either sensationalized it, were misinformed, or were being manipulative.
Case in point: Fight involving 300 teens breaks out at Kings Dominion from WSLS 10, an NBC affiliate.
Fight involving 300 teens breaks out at Kings Dominion
"The Hanover County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fight that broke out at Kings Dominion over the weekend, involving more than 300 teens." This leads the reader to believe 300 teens were in a royal rumble style fight.
The FoxNews article is the first I have seen with quotes and detailed information from the Hanover County Sheriff's Office.
Case in point: Fight involving 300 teens breaks out at Kings Dominion from WSLS 10, an NBC affiliate.
Fight involving 300 teens breaks out at Kings Dominion
"The Hanover County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fight that broke out at Kings Dominion over the weekend, involving more than 300 teens." This leads the reader to believe 300 teens were in a royal rumble style fight.
The FoxNews article is the first I have seen with quotes and detailed information from the Hanover County Sheriff's Office.
I don't believe a good faith reading of that article (or any of the others I have read) would lead someone to believe that there were 300+ people actively throwing punches at one another in some sort of cartoonish, dust cloud-style brawl.
Per the Fox News Digital article:
This matches with the previous reporting I have seen including the "The Hanover County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fight that broke out at Kings Dominion over the weekend, involving more than 300 teens" example you posted.
Hundreds of people "being disorderly," "encouraging" the fighting, "egging [the brawl] on," and making it "difficult" for the cops to respond are, by definition, "involved" in the situation—hence why, per reporting, 300+ people were removed from the park as a result of the incident.
Per the Fox News Digital article:
This matches with the previous reporting I have seen including the "The Hanover County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fight that broke out at Kings Dominion over the weekend, involving more than 300 teens" example you posted.
Hundreds of people "being disorderly," "encouraging" the fighting, "egging [the brawl] on," and making it "difficult" for the cops to respond are, by definition, "involved" in the situation—hence why, per reporting, 300+ people were removed from the park as a result of the incident.
If that's the case why not lead with "Fight breaks out at Kings Dominion"? Adding "involving 300 teens" is meant to sensationalize it, and you can bet that is how it was spread across the media and social media. I also highly doubt there were 300 people forming an enormous circle around the fight cheering for a victor, but my faith in humanity is pretty low right now so maybe that's exactly what happened.
I think some of the problem here is a lot of people don't read the full article, they just look at the headlines. I had a few co-workers come up to me the other day and asked if I heard about the 300 people involved in the fight at Kings Dominion.
Here are the headlines from the three main news stations out of Richmond:
From WTVR 6: "300-plus teens fighting at Kings Dominion's Halloween Haunt was 'mass chaos,' Deputy says"
www.wtvr.com
From WWBT 12: "Sheriff: 300 involved in Kings Dominion Fight
www.12onyourside.com
From WRIC 8: " Fights break out at Kings Dominion during Halloween Haunt"
Judging by those three headlines, two clearly state that 300 people were involved in the fight in some way. Whether this was on purpose to grab the readers attention to click on the article or not, I don't know. But just looking at the headlines alone, I think they were a bit misleading. It wasn't until you took the time to read in the article that the most of the entire story was covered. Unfortunately, I don't believe people read the entire story these days. Instead, they just view the headlines and start to form opinions from there.
Here are the headlines from the three main news stations out of Richmond:
From WTVR 6: "300-plus teens fighting at Kings Dominion's Halloween Haunt was 'mass chaos,' Deputy says"
300-plus teens fighting at Kings Dominion's Halloween Haunt was 'mass chaos,' deputy says
Sgt. Steve Wills with the Hanover County Sheriff's Office said roughly 300 teens were fighting outside Kings Dominion's arcade on Saturday night.
www.wtvr.com
From WWBT 12: "Sheriff: 300 involved in Kings Dominion Fight
Sheriff: 300 involved in Kings Dominion fight
A massive brawl at Kings Dominion. Roughly 300 park visitors brawling Saturday night during opening weekend for "Halloween Haunt."
www.12onyourside.com
From WRIC 8: " Fights break out at Kings Dominion during Halloween Haunt"
Judging by those three headlines, two clearly state that 300 people were involved in the fight in some way. Whether this was on purpose to grab the readers attention to click on the article or not, I don't know. But just looking at the headlines alone, I think they were a bit misleading. It wasn't until you took the time to read in the article that the most of the entire story was covered. Unfortunately, I don't believe people read the entire story these days. Instead, they just view the headlines and start to form opinions from there.
Being part of the 300 encouraging the fighting isn't much better than those actually fighting themselves. I want both groups banned from the park and the parks to take actual measures to deter individuals who do things to cause fights and incidents from even going to any park.
I think it's worth pointing out that I have seen several places where both the police and KD have said bans were issued. I believe that I even saw someone say that was part of why it took so long to completely resolve it. For those not aware there is a process involved that includes positively IDing the person being banded which if they didn't have ID can take a while. Paperwork by both the park and police photos taken and recorded with security and then escorted off property which since minors where involved also probably ment waiting for parents to arrive.