Friday, June 25, 2010

Summerfest 2010, 15-year-old Boy Crushed To Death By 30-foot Concrete Slab While Heading To Festival

Summerfest 11 day music festival starts, and Jerad Kellner, 15, was killed and two injured when an O'Donnell Park parking structure 30-foot sheet of concrete slab weighing 27,000 pounds falls as they headed to the festival

June 25, 2010
Updated:

Milwaukee, Wisconsin (HNNUSA) - On Thursday, H. Nelson Goodson, Yolanda Medina and Ricardo Hernandez, aka, "Rico" were just a few people from the thousands of festivalgoers that went through the Summerfest 2010 gates at Henry Maier Festival Park on opening day. Goodson, an immigration reform journalist and civil rights advocate said, he hasn't "missed an opening day at Summerfest, since it first opened."
Summerfest is billed as the World's Largest Music Festival at Milwaukee's lakefront (Lake Michigan). The festival draws thousands of festivalgoers to the 11 straight day (June 24 thru July 4) event in the midwest. The festival grounds holds at least 100,000 capacity per day, and provides 10 stages hosting over 700 bands, including the 23,000 capacity Marcus Amphitheater where major concerts are booked. Summerfest has reported over 1 million attendance for the 11 day event. Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum and Love and Theft played at the Marcus on opening day.
In popular stages inside Summerfest, Sheryl Crow, Pat McCurdy, Kool and The Gang, Love Hammers, The Wailers, Sweet Tarts, Led Zeppelin 2, and Passion Pit entertained the crowds. An early presentation by Lynhurst, a young female teen drummer and singer electrified the crowds with her three member band playing their energetic sound and they gave an awesome performance at 6:30 p.m. Lynhurst is a must see and hear band where ever they perform.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett was expected to attend the opening day ceremony at Summerfest, but officials announced that Barrett was called to a pressing emergency and would not attend. Barrett responded to a deadly incident at the O'Donnell Park parking structure where a 30-foot concrete slab fell and killed a teenager on his way to the festival.
Summerfest began in 1968 at the 75-acre Henry Maier Park grounds and attracts between 800,000 and 1,000,000 people each year, promoting itself as "The World's Largest Music Festival," a title certified by the Guinness World Records in 1999.

Photo: 620 AM WTMJ radio

In an unrelated incident, Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office reported that a 30-foot concrete sheet of slab at the East exit from O'Donnell Park parking structure collapse at about 4:00 p.m. and killed a 15-year-old boy who was crushed and injured two others, Amy Wosinski, 36, and Eric Wosinski, 15, her son of East Troy. Amy suffered a leg injury, and Eric a foot injury. Both boys were friends, according to police.

The 15-year-old boy who was killed was identified as Jerad Kellner of Greenfield. Kellner attended Witnall High School and was looking forward to attending Summerfest. He was supposed to meet up with his family at the event.
Mayor Barrett, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and Milwaukee County District Attorney John T. Chisholm were at the scene investigating the incident on Thursday afternoon.
A concrete sheet of slab weighing 27,000 pounds fell when its bolts or rods holding it in place to the side of the second story level snapped due to rust. The O'Donnell parking structure on Lincoln Memorial Drive will remain closed until engineers determined it is "100%" safe to reopen and the investigation is concluded.
The Betty Brinn Children's Museum inside the O'Donnell Park will remain close until further notice. The public will not be allowed to use the East side stucture sidewalk for safety reasons.
The O'Donnell 1,250 space parking structure is used by Summerfest attendees and those injured were headed to the lakefront festival, according to authorities.
Amy was taken to Froedtert Hospital where she remains today and Eric was released from Children's Hospital in Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke reported in a news conference on Friday. Clarke said, they will let the public know what had actually happened and would not speculate on what occured on Thursday. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office, the Milwaukee Police Department and the Milwaukee County Distict Attorney's Office are jointly investigating the fatal incident at the O'Donnell Park parking structure.
Clarke said, people can retrieve their cars from the parking structure, which is considered safe for vehicle removal only at this time. At least more than 40 vehicles remained at the structure where the damage occured.
The deadly incident occured a block away from the North entrance to Summerfest and the death of the teenager spread rapidly throughout Summerfest by festivalgoers.

For Summerfest info., gate promotions, and details go to www.summerfest.com 

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