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American Morning

Porch Collapse

Aired June 30, 2003 - 09:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Two men among the first on the scene there in Chicago were John Snyder and James Johnson. They work at the Burwood Tap Bar. That is just six blocks from where this collapse occurred, and they join us now from Chicago.
Gentlemen, thanks for being with us today.

James, let me start with you. You are the bouncer at the Burwood Tap Bar, which is just down the street from where this happened. And as soon you saw people coming in hysterical from the party, you ran down the alley? What did you see when you got to the end of that alley?

JAMES JOHNSON, BOUNCER, BURWOOD TAP: Well, initially you just had a lot of people hurt, running away from the structure, scared. You had people who were bleeding, people that were injured, people lying around. It was has pretty horrific scene, and we were just trying to get in control and help any way that we could.

SAN MIGUEL: What kind of shape were those people in?

JOHNSON: Oh, they were mostly in shock. You had people who were pinned under the structure. You had wood debris everywhere. People were dirty, without their shoes, people with head wounds and arms limbs just -- all kinds of forms of trauma all over, a lot of blood everywhere.

So we initially just tried to settle people down, and as you had a new wave of people coming to the scene to try to find friends and loved ones, they went into shock, because no one really recognized what we were up against. It was that shocking to everyone. So once the emergency services came in and took over, we initially just tried to get ice, and terry towels, and make bandages and compresses for anyone with minor wounds.

SAN MIGUEL: John, you're the bar manager there at the Burwood Tap. You were busy setting up a makeshift triage center when you found out exactly how serious the situation was?

JOHN SNYDER, BAR MANAGER, BURWOOD TAP: Well, basically, what happened initially, nobody knew, even the people that were from the party. It took a very long time for it to settle in exactly what had happened. But when we came out of the bar, you could see walking wounded just staggering out of the alley, people bloody, people broken, just laying down as soon as they got to the first soft patch of grass that they could find. The police and the firemen and paramedics were here quickly and got back to this site to secure that, but there were just so many people injured walking around. We ran back to the bar, we started filling up bags of ice, we started filling up pitchers of water. We tore up some bathroom linen to make bandages for them, just to try to make it as comfortable as we could until the paramedics could get there, because there were so many people injured so quickly.

SAN MIGUEL: The Burwood Tap is the neighborhood bar in this area. Give us some sense of people who lived in this area? Mostly college students?

JOHNSON: Well, it's young professional area. I think people from all over the country when they come to Chicago, this is one of the first destinations. You hear about Lincoln Park. It's a young area. There's a vibrant night life, lots of restaurants and bars, and from all avenues, from blues clubs to little neighborhood places like ours. And as people come in, we get a lot of the kids who come in from Big Ten schools and all over. And so they move in, and as they become more professional in the area, I think they tend to move into other areas.

But you have a very vibrant and a lot of people just hang out. It's a great area for people to just come and get to know each other. Most of our patrons we know. Everyone that comes in there, we know. It's just a little neighborhood place, have a quick drink. You get to know everybody. Kind of cheersy sort of, hey, how you doing. I haven't seen you in a week, and then you get a great crowd, and people move on from there.

SNYDER: Lincoln Park is pretty much a transit neighborhood. I mean, kids, they go to DePaul, they come here, this is like the first apartment that you get in Chicago, you get in Lincoln Park, and then after a couple more years in Lincoln Park, you move, you know, out to the suburbs or somewhere else. But it is kind of a transit area. People from all over. Very few people grew up two blocks away from here.

SAN MIGUEL: It sounds like you have a pretty good -- you have you finger on the pulse of what the neighborhood is all about there.

John Snyder and James Johnson.

JOHNSON: I grew up in this area.

SAN MIGUEL: OK. Well, that says it right there. Both gentlemen work at the Burwood Tap Bar. John Snyder, James Johnson, thanks so much for your insight this morning. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired June 30, 2003 - 09:11   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Two men among the first on the scene there in Chicago were John Snyder and James Johnson. They work at the Burwood Tap Bar. That is just six blocks from where this collapse occurred, and they join us now from Chicago.
Gentlemen, thanks for being with us today.

James, let me start with you. You are the bouncer at the Burwood Tap Bar, which is just down the street from where this happened. And as soon you saw people coming in hysterical from the party, you ran down the alley? What did you see when you got to the end of that alley?

JAMES JOHNSON, BOUNCER, BURWOOD TAP: Well, initially you just had a lot of people hurt, running away from the structure, scared. You had people who were bleeding, people that were injured, people lying around. It was has pretty horrific scene, and we were just trying to get in control and help any way that we could.

SAN MIGUEL: What kind of shape were those people in?

JOHNSON: Oh, they were mostly in shock. You had people who were pinned under the structure. You had wood debris everywhere. People were dirty, without their shoes, people with head wounds and arms limbs just -- all kinds of forms of trauma all over, a lot of blood everywhere.

So we initially just tried to settle people down, and as you had a new wave of people coming to the scene to try to find friends and loved ones, they went into shock, because no one really recognized what we were up against. It was that shocking to everyone. So once the emergency services came in and took over, we initially just tried to get ice, and terry towels, and make bandages and compresses for anyone with minor wounds.

SAN MIGUEL: John, you're the bar manager there at the Burwood Tap. You were busy setting up a makeshift triage center when you found out exactly how serious the situation was?

JOHN SNYDER, BAR MANAGER, BURWOOD TAP: Well, basically, what happened initially, nobody knew, even the people that were from the party. It took a very long time for it to settle in exactly what had happened. But when we came out of the bar, you could see walking wounded just staggering out of the alley, people bloody, people broken, just laying down as soon as they got to the first soft patch of grass that they could find. The police and the firemen and paramedics were here quickly and got back to this site to secure that, but there were just so many people injured walking around. We ran back to the bar, we started filling up bags of ice, we started filling up pitchers of water. We tore up some bathroom linen to make bandages for them, just to try to make it as comfortable as we could until the paramedics could get there, because there were so many people injured so quickly.

SAN MIGUEL: The Burwood Tap is the neighborhood bar in this area. Give us some sense of people who lived in this area? Mostly college students?

JOHNSON: Well, it's young professional area. I think people from all over the country when they come to Chicago, this is one of the first destinations. You hear about Lincoln Park. It's a young area. There's a vibrant night life, lots of restaurants and bars, and from all avenues, from blues clubs to little neighborhood places like ours. And as people come in, we get a lot of the kids who come in from Big Ten schools and all over. And so they move in, and as they become more professional in the area, I think they tend to move into other areas.

But you have a very vibrant and a lot of people just hang out. It's a great area for people to just come and get to know each other. Most of our patrons we know. Everyone that comes in there, we know. It's just a little neighborhood place, have a quick drink. You get to know everybody. Kind of cheersy sort of, hey, how you doing. I haven't seen you in a week, and then you get a great crowd, and people move on from there.

SNYDER: Lincoln Park is pretty much a transit neighborhood. I mean, kids, they go to DePaul, they come here, this is like the first apartment that you get in Chicago, you get in Lincoln Park, and then after a couple more years in Lincoln Park, you move, you know, out to the suburbs or somewhere else. But it is kind of a transit area. People from all over. Very few people grew up two blocks away from here.

SAN MIGUEL: It sounds like you have a pretty good -- you have you finger on the pulse of what the neighborhood is all about there.

John Snyder and James Johnson.

JOHNSON: I grew up in this area.

SAN MIGUEL: OK. Well, that says it right there. Both gentlemen work at the Burwood Tap Bar. John Snyder, James Johnson, thanks so much for your insight this morning. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com