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Oct 11, 2007 8:56 am US/Central
E2 Owners: Cops, City Employees Stole Cash, Liquor
Lawsuit Claims Video Shows Evidence
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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The E2 Nightclub on the night of the deadly stampede in 2003.
CBS
Years after the deadly stampede at the E2 Nightclub, the owners are accusing the city of misconduct.
As CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports, a lawsuit claims Chicago police or other city employees stole more than $100,000 in cash and liquor from the club.
"We know the liquor didn't evaporate, and we know the dollars didn't just dissipate," club co-owner Calvin Hollins, Jr. said
According to lawyers for Hollins, Jr. and his business partner Dwain Kyles, video from inside E2 was taken within 48 hours of the tragedy showing two well-stocked bars, liquor the owners say later vanished, along with substantial cash during the months the building was under city control.
"I know for a fact there was $20,000 in the office, cash. I have 2 witnesses to that observation," Hollins, Jr. said.
"There were, I believe, 15 cases of Moet champagne, unopened, 12 bottles per case, that I personally saw inside a storage closet, next to the bar. The next time I returned to the club, it was gone," said Edward Grasse, attorney for the club owners.
Police placed the club under 24-hour guard in the wake of the stampede on February 17, 2003 that killed 21 people. It started after someone used pepper spray to break up a dance-floor fight, sending people fleeing down narrow stairs to an exit, authorities said. The force of the bodies piling against the doors prevented them from opening. More than 50 people were injured.
The city alleged the bar was overcrowded, but criminal charges against the owners were thrown out in March.
The owners say, this action isn't about money, it's about shining a light on the city's misdeeds. "I want the families to be vindicated in knowing their children, their loved ones, their mothers, were really good people who were victims of a horrible tragedy. But it was an accident, it was an accident...and to try to make it something else is not fair," Kyles said.
The two nightclub owners aren't seeking a payback. They basiclly want an explanation. They're asking that the city be held in contempt of court for violating an order that nothing be removed or altered in the club.
Hollins says former Chicago Police Supt. Phil Cline launched a police internal affairs probe in June. Police will only say the matter's under investigation.
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