Dec 19, 2005 10:44 pm US/Central
E2 Club Owner Says He Suffered Following Tragedy
by Joanie Lum
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
It's been nearly three years since 21 people died during a stampede at a Chicago nightclub.
For the first time, the owner of the E2 nightclub spoke Monday at length about that tragedy.
CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports that Dwain Kyles' comments came as attorneys tried to get the case thrown out of court.
E2 nightclub owner Dwain Kyles says the tragedy that killed 21 people on Feb. 17, 2003, made him a victim too.
"My life has been turned upside down, my family has suffered. And I've suffered terribly," Kyles said.
Kyles, his co-defendant, party promoter Marco Flores, and two others listened as a judge ruled that their case would go to trial, even though their attorneys claim the prosecution has not said exactly why the men are charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The grand jury indictment said club owners over packed the nightclub that night.
Someone used pepper spray to break up a fight and a stampede crushed the victims.
The defendants compared the case to the Lincoln Park porch collapse that killed 12 people in 2003.
"People died as a direct result of that improper, structural situation, there were no criminal charge," Kyles said.
Lum: the attorneys say criminal charges in this case are fueled by other motives.
"I say it's pure, unadulterated racism, it's political and it should not be," said Kyles' attorney Eugene Pincham.
"When you have so many people who died, 21 who died, there's a lot of pressure to hold somebody accountable," said Flores attorney Raul Villalobos.
Attorneys also compared their case to the Cook County building fire that killed six people in 2003, where there were no criminal charges.
They say this case belongs in the civil courts.
An attorney for the victims' families told CBS 2 that the criminal case is actually stalling the civil lawsuits against the club owners, since they exercised their fifth amendment to avoid incriminating themselves.
The manslaughter case goes back to court on Jan. 31. If convicted, each defendant could get 10 years in prison.
(© MMV, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
