2003 E2 Nightclub Stampede - Aftermath

Aftermath

There were a number of controversies associated with the case. A city-issued court order showed that the owners, Dwain Kyles and Calvin Hollins, were guilty of as many as eleven building code violations, including overcrowding and the club's faulty exit lighting. According to Time magazine, police were called to the location 80 times in the past two years alone prior to the stampede.

Though the Epitome Chicago restaurant was allowed to remain open, Kyles and Hollins were ordered by the city to shut down the second-floor club in 2002, but their attorneys claimed that there had been an agreement to close only a VIP section on the floor. City inspectors then believed that the facility's only business thereafter came from the restaurant, which the club attorneys said was false, as police officers (including off-duty) were a regular presence in handling the persistently large crowds, while club advertisements were common on radio and the Internet.

As the club was African-American owned and duly attracted a predominantly black crowd, Jesse Jackson had in the past supported Kyles and Hollins when community groups had sought to close down the facility due to building code and other infractions. He publicly came to Kyles' defense after the incident, saying that Kyles was “an upstanding example of a young professional person in community.” Kyles was also a supporter of Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, and a regular contributor to Jackson's political campaigns.

During the trial in January 2007, the prosecution claimed that the club's security staff were improperly trained to handle rowdy crowds. E2 security guard Samuel Bone testified to using the pepper spray to disband a group of fifteen brawling clubbers, which had stopped the fight and led to the instigator leaving the premises. He then said that he was indeed trained in the proper use of pepper spray by the Illinois Police Reserve Patrol, a nonprofit group.

On November 25, 2009, Kyles and Hollins were acquitted of involuntary manslaughter charges, but were found guilty of indirect criminal contempt for violating the previous orders to close the entire second floor of the club and were sentenced to two years in prison. E2 has remained closed to the public since the incident.

On November 16, 2011, the previous rulings were overturned when a judge ruled that the orders to close down the second floor were ambiguous.