There are conflicting reports about a partial stage collapse on Randall's Island this afternoon, injuring those who were disassembling it following this weekend's Governors Ball rock festival. EMT Jason Rabinowitz, the director of field operations and special events for First Response Ambulance, confirmed that he is responding to a report of the collapse. "They were taking down the stage, and were about halfway up when the bottom half gave way they fell about 6 to 8 feet," Rabinowitz tells us. "It was four people total. Two of them refused medical treatment, one of them is saying they have back pain and the other has a possible fracture in their arm."
An FDNY spokesman didn't have any information on the collapse, and a spokesman for Governors Ball denies there has been a stage collapse, "or anything close to it." We'll update with more information as it becomes available.
[UPDATE] A spokesman for the festival emails us this statement:
At approximately 4 pm, while disassembling the stage, 8 stage hands were carrying a truss by hand, to be loaded off the deck, when a portion of the deck shifted, causing one stagehand to fall. He broke his fall with his wrist and has been transported to the hospital for x-rays. As a precautionary measure a second stagehand, complaining of lower back pain was also transported for examination.
