Riot Police Called To Summer Jam 2015, Use Tear Gas On Crowds

Hot 97’s Summer Jam 2015 ended with the riot police after people tried to break into the concert at Met Life Stadium in New Jersey.

Riot Breaks Out At Summer Jam 2015

Summer Jam featured performances by Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar and Big Sean, to name a few, but all eyes were outside the stadium. New Jersey state troopers appeared in riot gear after police were unable to subdue a rowdy group of people clamoring to attend the concert. According to reports, the chaos began between 7 and 8 p.m. when all entrance gates were closed except one, forcing all ticket holders to converge. “People been standing out here for over three and a half hours just trying to get into a concert that they paid for,” one witness told CBS.

It’s unclear whether the mob that formed outside the gate was full of ticket holders or people desperate to get into the sold-out concert – likely it was a bit of both. Unable to control the crowd, police intervened and shut the gates, angering people who had tickets and were waiting to gain entrance to the show. Police then began arresting people and pepper-spraying them. Some crowd members reacted by throwing bottles and trash at the police, which led to the riot police being called in.

State Police brought in an armored tank while reportedly using tear gas, noise machines, and clubs on the crowd.

Hot 97 released an official statement relaying their version of events, saying that the riot was caused by attendees who were unable to purchase tickets. “When fans realized tickets were not available at the box office, a small number of people created an unsafe environment, and for the safety of all guests, the New Jersey State Police were on scene to disperse the crowd. The gates were closed at that time. No further entry was permitted into the event,” they said. Hot 97 added that refunds would be available for ticket holders who were never scanned for entry.

New Jersey State Police issued a statement on Monday, confirming that 61 arrests were made at Summer Jam, and 10 officers were injured. “The majority of arrests occurred because of concert goers climbing fences and trying to push past security at the MetLife entrance gate,” reads the statement.

“A small group of highly disruptive people ruined this concert for many others. They created a danger to ticket-holders, stadium employees, and troopers on the scene. Our troopers took the appropriate steps to restore order to what was a brief and volatile situation,” said New Jersey State Police Superintendent Colonel Rick Fuentes.