One of the biggest nights in Hip-Hop turned violent due to a few ‘genius’ thinking New Jersey State Troopers and a few angry concert goers. Summer Jam took place last night at MetLife stadium and access had been closed off to those in line. When several thousand fans who was stuck outside asked why were they not allowed in, no one could provide an answer.
A fight had apparently broken inside the venue, which is not new to concerts at all, and under that information New Jersey troopers in riot gear shut down the gates under the guise of a riot. When the gates closed and people who had paid hard-earned money were left outside, agitation began to occur. With no reason given to those outside as why they could not get in, some began to try to jump the fence.
This is when a trooper thought it was best to begin pepper spraying the already irritated crowd. All first hand reports have said that the officers were rude and disrespectful. HHE’s Dennis Byron was right in the middle of the chaos as it unfolded and believed that the actions by the New Jersey State Troopers assigned to provide security themselves created a dangerous situation when they deployed pepper spray into a peacefully assembled crowd.
There were a handful of people who showed their aggression by throwing plastic water bottles in the direction of the troopers however the manner in which they responded was unnecessary. Bottle throwing is not acceptable but neither pepper spraying a hot crowd trying to get into Summer Jam. It appears if this incident was provoked under all the information that is out. Concerts are not an event special to this generation and many concerts do not turn this way because of people trying to jump a fence.
The event has been described as poorly organized, even fraudulent as people who paid for their ticket were not granted entry. One thing it was not was an unruly riot and the aftermath was the result of poor judgement of a trooper.
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