Police gas Mile High fans

By Evan Dreyer

Denver Post Staff Writer

Sept. 5 - Denver police tear-gassed hundreds of football fans at Mile High Stadium late Saturday as cups, bottles and other debris rained down on officers and deflated CU players trying to make their way off the field after a disappointing 41-14 loss to cross-state rival CSU.

Fans in the northeast stands said the pepper spray and red, smoky tear gas came with no warning and no provocation, triggering a panic to get out and causing spectators to vomit and children to sob.

"People were crying, putting their shirts over their heads and running up the stairs,'' Fort Collins high school student Zach Echman said.

"Little kids were holding on to their moms, trying to get away from the tear gas,'' said Laurel Damp, a junior at Colorado State University. She lambasted the riot-gear-clad police as "unlawful.''

The melee brought harsh criticism of the police behavior as the the game ended.

"I have absolutely no respect for the police officers,'' student Laura Sidener said. "No one was causing any trouble.''

Police spokeswoman Virginia Lopez said the trouble started at the end of CSU's trouncing of the University of Colorado.

With about a minute left, fans in the northeast corner started chanting "Goalpost! Goalpost! Goalpost!'' and were trying to rush the field to tear down the posts. Then fans started chanting, "Let's get gassed!''

The fans were taunting the CU team and tossing trash at CU players as they tried to head into the locker room, police and witnesses said.

Lopez said many fans were drunk and unruly, though beer sales were halted about five minutes before halftime. Police rushed extra officers to the stadium, and to keep fans from spilling onto the field at game's end, officers began spraying pepper spray and tear gas into the stands, Lopez said.

The officers reportedly were under orders from the Denver Broncos to prevent damage to the field or the tearing down of goalposts.

Denver police Capt. R.A. Ryan blamed the ugly end to the game on the spectators. "A lot of the fans were pretty well intoxicated,'' Ryan said. "That's what caused it.''

Lopez said officers made a "large number'' of arrests but did not have an exact count.

As the game ended, police advised CU players "to put your helmets on'' and run into the tunnel to get off the field. Cheerleaders also were hurried off.

"It was like being in a war,'' CU cornerback Ben Kelly said.

Colorado quarterback Mike Moschetti said he was worried it would get worse. "I was just waiting,'' he said. "I was hoping the fans would leave.''

CU coach Gary Barnett called the end-of-the-game clash disappointing, saying it was too bad the fans didn't conduct themselves with more class.

Bart Palmer, a financial planner in Fort Collins, was sitting in the third row of Section 120. He said that at the end of the game, swarms of people started moving down toward the field, screaming, with some throwing debris onto the field.

Then one fan jumped a fence, and another fell over it. Then came the pepper spray and tear gas. Fans were scrambling back up the steps to get out, and Palmer said he helped carry a girl having an asthma attack.

"I was yelling, "This girl's dying, get out of the way!'''

He said fans were vomiting and children crying.

"It was like the cops were scared,'' he said. "If they were shooting bullets at us, in a shootout, instead of canisters of gas, we would all be dead. How many people would they have killed?''

University officials and reporters conducting interviews on the field were hit by the tear gas.

Fans ran out of the stadium with tears streaming down their faces, the sting of tear gas wafting into the parking lots.

Denver Health Medical Center reported treating two fans for injuries from tear gas, being trampled and hyperventilation. Two more fans were taken to other hospitals.

CU fan Tom Wolf said the crowd was much calmer this year than in 1998, the first year the "Rocky Mountain Showdown'' between the two rivals was held at Mile High.

"The cops were looking for trouble,'' he said.

None of the players was at risk of getting hurt by the debris being thrown onto the field, CSU junior Shelley Sullivan said.

"If a guy can get hit by a 250-pound linebacker, an empty bottle isn't going to hurt him,'' Sullivan said.

CSU student Corrie Griffin estimated that just 20 fans were throwing things onto the field.

"When the game was over, no one moved,'' Griffin said. "Everyone stayed behind the fences, and no one rushed the field.'' When the tear gas hit, "I was puking. I couldn't walk.''

Andrew Blackmon, a 22-year-old CSU student, said: "I think it's important to say that there weren't many people throwing bottles, and there weren't many people trying to get on the field. But the cops sprayed everybody.''

Even the band and some event staff members were sprayed.

In Fort Collins after the game, College Avenue was jammed with cars, and the bars were full of students returning from Denver. Rowdy fans waved green and gold pompons, blared horns and chanted "CSU! CSU! CSU!''

Police blocked off roads and set up barricades.

CSU senior Chris Tanner watched the game at Old Chicago in downtown Fort Collins.

He went to the game last year and regrets not going to Saturday's match, though he didn't miss the traffic and the crowds.

"For 13 years we've been underestimated and underrated,'' he said. "This is the best revenge I could ever ask for. It was a blue-collar/white-collar showdown, but we won it with heart.''

At last year's showdown, police ejected or arrested 77 fans.

Dave Plati, CU sports information director, said it appears most CU fans had already left the stadium, but if any were involved in the melee, they would be disciplined.

The issue of whether the game will be played again at Mile High Stadium will be discussed next week among CU's administration, CSU officials, and officials from the city of Denver and Mile High Stadium, Plati said.

Denver Post writers Cindy Brovsky, Angie DeVine, Sean Kelly, Mark Kiszla, Katrina Martin, Natalie Meisler, Kirk Mitchell, Joe Sanchez and Adam Thompson contributed to this report.