ULTRA Music Festival may be forced out of Miami after security guard trampling
Much like Electric Daisy Carnival before it, Miami's EDM festival Ultra may soon be forced to find a new home.
"In the next weeks we are going to have a discussion on the city commission level to deny the permits for next year for the event here in the city of Miami," said Mayor Tomas Regalato.
The desire to force out the long-running fest comes after a particularly disastorous weekend in which an event security guard was trampled. Erica Mack suffered a broken leg and brain hemorrhaging after a large group of people without tickets stormed a fence, toppling it onto the 28-year-old. Mack was trampled in the ensuing stampede and is currently in stable but critical condition at a nearby hospital.
In addition, 55 arrests were made over the first two days of the event and 55 rescues were made in a single day.
"The mayor and I will be proposing a resolution in front of the commission that would deny them the ability to have Ultra in the future," said City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff. "I think they have overstayed their welcome."
The incident involving Mack is especially troublesome, as event organizers were asked to shore up that section of fence by city officials.
"What happened this weekend is an event that could have been avoided,The organizers of Ultra did not follow the police directive to reinforce the fence, even though they knew that this year, and the year before, some kids have tried to over run the fences," said Regalato.