A stampede that left nine people injured at Atlanta's Vine City transit station may have been triggered by something rather unexpected: a startled reaction to an insect. The incident occurred just after midnight on Tuesday, as crowds exited Beyonce's Cowboy Carter concert at nearby Mercedes-Benz Stadium, according to the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, per NBC News.
As people packed onto an escalator, chaos broke out after a scream was heard. "The person who screamed was reacting to an insect," says MARTA's Stephany Fisher, citing witness accounts. One person caught in the commotion tells Atlanta News First that she ended up buried in a pile of about 20 people, where she feared she'd suffocate. While video footage from the station shows the ensuing panic and people fleeing, it doesn't clearly reveal the source of the scream or the insect in question. Social media posts, including one on TikTok, suggest a 10-year-old was at the center of the incident, though this remains unconfirmed.
Scott Kreher, MARTA's police chief, tells WXIA that the insect involved may have been a cockroach or a palmetto bug. MARTA executive Rhonda Allen tells the outlet that the escalator had passed a recent inspection, but that the weight of all the people crammed onto it, as well as the rapid movement when they started trying to run, caused the escalator to suddenly speed up, then just as abruptly come to a halt, hurling people to the ground.
story continues below
Of the nine people injured, one sustained a broken ankle, while others suffered cuts and scrapes. Seven were transported to a hospital, while one person declined treatment. "Never again, never again will I get on a MARTA, never again," one of the injured tells Atlanta News First, adding, "Especially in crowds." It's not clear if there will be any further investigation into the incident.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
