Top cop McCarthy: North Ave. Beach closing not linked to gangs
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter / fspielman@suntimes.com June 1, 2011 3:00PM
Police Supt. Garry McCarthy speaks as Deputy Division Chief Alfonza Wyzinger and Mayor Rahm Emanuel listen at a press conference at Chicago Police Headquarters on Wednesday. | Al Podgorski~Sun-Times
Updated: July 8, 2011 2:24PM
Gang loitering, intimidation, flash mobs and violence had nothing to do with the Chicago Police Department’s unprecedented decision to close North Avenue beach on a sultry Memorial Day, Acting Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Wednesday.
One day after Mayor Rahm Emanuel blamed a surge of calls about patrons suffering from heat exhaustion for the beach closing, McCarthy stood at the mayor’s side and agreed.
Asked point-blank what role, if any, gang activity or violence played in Monday’s 6 p.m. closing, McCarthy said without hesitation, “None.”
“There was no gang activity involved in the commander’s decision to close the beach. ... It was based upon the public safety concerns where we had to get ambulances to victims on the beach and the overcrowded conditions made it difficult for that to occur,” McCarthy said.
“The folks who showed up at North Avenue, what I was informed of, were suburbanites who were coming to the beach to enjoy a nice day. It was simply an overcrowding situation. It had nothing to do with anything else that was going on.”
Beach patrons and riders using the lakefront bike path on Memorial Day reported an intimidating presence on the beach of, what appeared to them to be gang members. Similar problems were reported in other major cities on that day.
McCarthy was asked whether there was any gang activity along the lakefront on Memorial Day.
“What’s gang activity? I mean — we have no recorded incidents of any violent crimes that occurred that jumped off the page. There was just a lot of people on the beach. It was a beautiful day. It was the equivalent to, I believe it’s called an air show as far as the actual population,” said McCarthy, the former police director in Newark, N.J.
McCarthy acknowledged that Monday’s incident marks the first time that a Chicago beach was closed for any reason other than the presence of e-coli bacteria in Lake Michigan.
To avoid a repeat performance, he said, “We have to plan better as to what we do in those circumstances — how we’re going to assist EMS to get the people who may need help on the beach, which is what happened this time.”
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