Six Flags Has A New Form Of Crowd Control: Macing Teenagers - Comments

wow...i bought tickets 4 that show... i had 2 sell em tho. :/ ya it was a lil crazy that they maced ppl. a lil 2 far if u ask me.

@Audrey T., I can see where you're coming from. I'm not surprised at all that the security were dragging so many kids off the stage, as someone could've definitely been hurt, but actually PUSHING them off the stage isn't exactly the right thing to do either, obviously, since at least one person ended up breaking a limb. And that could've been even more dangerous than the mace. If they pushed one person off the stage, all they would have to do is land wrong and they could have very easily broken their neck. My personal opinion is that mace should be used if a person is actually trying to harm the security guards or someone else, and they do it for safety reasons, obviously. But macing a kid just because they won't get off the stage? That's going too far. Sure, grab them by the arm and drag them off if you have to, but macing the kid for being difficult definitely isn't okay, either.

The kids definitely take some of the blame, though. If about three kids got up onstage, then it's not that big of the deal if they're not trying to harm the band or anything. But after watching the video of it, there were a LOT of people on stage, which definitely wasn't safe, and the kids should've calmed down and known better. But like I said, macing them as a last resort wasn't the right thing to do. Sure, it wouldn't be as bad as getting tasered or tear gas or something, but from what I heard, nobody was deliberately trying to hurt anybody; they just got a little over-excited, and that happens. I just don't think the whole, "well, they didn't know what else to do" argument makes a whole lot of sense in that situation.

Plus, being maced in the face completely hurts. I'm not saying no minor should never be maced if things get really out of control, but in this situation, I don't think it should've been used. That definitely crossed at least some kind of line.

I also don't understand why BLG would get locked in their bus just because they were trying to help the kids. As long as they weren't threatening the security guards or something, then they weren't doing anything wrong. If I were in their shoes, I would want to help too. No band wants to see their fans getting hurt in any kind of way.

But this is all just my opinion and the way I see it. take it with a grain of salt.

Well this is lovely.Im going to Six Flags in the summer with my friends family.

Whoa, didn't expect so many people to care about this :D I can definitely see both side's points..my personal opinion is that Audrey T has a point, but security went a bit too far..especially since they blamed it on police.

And also, why exactly shouldn't mace be used on teenagers? I don't really see what's the logic behind this. If yelling and shouting, if asking politely, if making announcements, if physically pushing kids back, isn't working, what do you expect the security to do to get the crowd under control? Would tasering the teens be better? Or bludgeoning them into submission? Or maybe fog the ENTIRE audience, create a panic, and then shut down the rest of the performance would be a better idea? What exactly do you all expect the security to do?

I have to agree with the security's decision. Yeah, the band was okay with it, sure, but they're not the ones liable for the safety of the kids. Sometimes, like the fans, the bands get carried away in the moment and just think about having a good time, they're not always thinking about safety. That's why the security is there and in charge.

I've been to concerts and very often simply asking people to "step back" or "stop" isn't enough. Teens (anyone really) at a concert aren't thinking about the safety of others and they're often stuck in the "authority just wants to stop our good time" frame of mind. That's not the case. People get hurt at concerts when the crowd is rushing forward (because of excitement or because they're trying to get closer to the stage). People get seriously hurt (they can be pushed against the barriers at the front of the stage and they can get trampled). Stuff happens. Stuff that while you're in the heat of the moment, you won't think about. Stuff that the band isn't thinking about while they're performing and yelling for kids to climb on the stage.

No offense to ATL, and I'm sure they weren't doing anything to purposely endager anyone (neither were the fans), but...yeah, the security has to do what they can to keep damages to a minimum.

That is total SHIT! It's All Time Low for Christ's sake! I woul dclimb on the stage too! I feel like sueing Six Flags right now.

I heard about this from Alex's twitter. That's ridiculous. If the band didn't have an issue with anything going on at the show, that's all that matters.

Whoa.
Dude, I live about half an hour away from Arlington.
I've been going to that park since I was a little tyke.
Strange that the security seemed to be on the rag that night...I've barely gotten a glimpse of them before, and now they're going all Kimbo Slice on people?
Weird, uber weird.
Macing at a concert is an incredibly stupid idea, though; all they had to do was TELL people to move back. Unless the teens started chucking glass bottles at the stage, excessive force wasn't needed.

guilty or not
MACE SHOULDN'T BE USED ON TEENAGES PERIOD
kthankbai :)

I was at six flags that day super pissed that i couldnt go to the concert but i didnt hear about any of this

I've come to hate Six Flags. Especially this weekend when my ipod was "misplaced" and the park supervisors laughed in my face.

They were twittering up a storm and to be honest, I was pissed. Like, what gives them the right to do that? They're just a bunch of kids having fun at a 'rock' concert. And in San Antonio, fans started chanting "All Time Low" while roadies were setting the stage for Boys Like Girls. Of course on a blogging website it was everywhere within the first hour the macing happened. And my friends and I were going to cause a riot but people did it for us, so yeah.
It is six flags fault; Abusing their power. I truely see now the Six Flags sucks.

If anyone hasn't seen the video of Alex Gaskarth and Martin Johnson telling off security here it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdcCnWHH15w

That's just terrible! In my opinion, it's the security's fault. I mean, what else did they expect to happen at a concert?! They can't go around using mace on people who are just having some fun and when the band doesn't even care what the crowd is acting like...

wow. that's nuts.

It's securities fault.
ATL was perfectly fine with the fans on stage and the crowd is supposed to get rowdy at a ROCK concert.

thanks for this, I'll remember not to piss off any surcurity officers when I go to six flags this friday =P

I think it's securities fault. If All Time Low didn't have a problem with fans being on stage don't mace them or push them off stage. It's horrible and I hope 6 flags get sued because of this.

my friend got maced.