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Author Topic: Dave Matthews has one crappy band
Speed 2: Cruise Control
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Pun intended
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Goody Scrivener
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Dunno about being a crappy band, but he's sure got a crappy driver....

When I first heard about this the day after it happened, and heard that the passengers were supposedly able to positively identify the bus by a license plate within hours, I really doubted the story. After all, the boat that they were on is a good 20-25 feet UNDERNEATH the bus, with a metal gridwork separating them. The likelihood of getting splattered, being able to look up, and clearly read a license plate from that angle is slim to completely implausible. in the last day or two, however, a local business released copies of their own security camera feed which got a relatively clear shot of the bridge in question... and shows that only one bus, with a DIFFERENT license plate number than originally cited but also belonging to a DMB driver, crossed this bridge in the roughly half hour window surrounding the incident. The driver of that bus does admit that he drove that route at approximately that time but still insists he has nothing to do with the splatter.

Not knowing how these busses are built and how the tanks are secured, I wonder if perhaps a flange simply let loose at the worst possible moment. Should the driver be up on criminal charges - as Mayor Daley and Attorney General Lisa Madigan are contemplating - if the incident was maintenance related instead of intentional? Depends on who is responsible for maintenance. But in either event, I don't think that Dave Matthews personally or DMB should be catching the flack for this one.

Just my two cents. [Smile]

Goody

PS: Speed: are you a Chicagoan?

[ August 26, 2004, 04:10 PM: Message edited by: Goody Scrivener ]

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Elizabeth
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Ew.
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pooka
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I saw this on the news. OxO
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Scott R
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When you gotta go. . .
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Goody Scrivener
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quote:
800 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? What the crap?!
The first driver accused said that he hadn't dumped the tanks in roughly a week. <shudder> Don't let Kevin Smith at that mess, we'll have a whole slew of Golgothans waddling around (yep, i'm watching Dogma while I read the forum)

Goody

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Little_Doctor
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crap. hehe. [Cool]
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Goody Scrivener
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Bump for update: quoted from Chicago Tribune (which requires subscription):

The Associated Press
Published January 19, 2005, 3:20 PM CST
Prosecutors filed charges Wednesday against the driver of a Dave Matthews Band tour bus accused of dumping 800 pounds of human waste onto a sightseeing boat on the Chicago River last summer.

The driver, Stefan Wohl, is charged with misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct and discharging contaminates to cause water pollution, Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine said. The charges carry a maximum penalty of one year in jail and up to $10,000 fine if convicted.

Wohl, 42, of Selma, Texas, turned himself in to Chicago police Wednesday and was released on $1,000 bond.

Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan has also filed a civil lawsuit seeking $70,000 in damages against the band and driver alleging they violated state environmental laws.

According to authorities, Wohl was alone in the bus and driving to a downtown hotel on Aug. 8 when he allegedly emptied the bus' septic tank as it crossed the metal grates of the Kinzie Street bridge.

The waste poured through the grates and onto the open deck of the Chicago's Little Lady tour boat, which was passing below with more than 100 people on board.

The boat immediately returned to its dock and was later cleaned with disinfectant, and officials with the Chicago Architectural Foundation, which operates the tour, offered refunds. They also said they have received several calls from angry passengers who demanded compensation for clothing and personal items.

At the time, a band spokesman said that Wohl had said he was not involved with the incident. The band also issued a statement on its Web site saying that if the bus was found to be responsible, the band would "work quickly to make amends, with the people on the boat and with Chicago."

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Goody Scrivener
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Driver plea bargained...

From the 3-9-05 Chicago Tribune:
Matthews bus driver admits tour boat dumping

By Patrick Rucker
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 9, 2005, 11:19 AM CST

The tour bus driver for the Dave Matthews Band today admitted to emptying liquid waste onto an architectural tour boat as it passed beneath a bridge in downtown Chicago.

As part of a plea agreement worked out with the Cook County state's attorney's office, Stefan Wohl pleaded guilty in court to one misdemeanor count each of reckless endangerment and polluting a waterway.

Judge William O'Malley ordered Wohl, 42, to pay a $10,000 fine to the tour boat operator and serve 18 months of probation and perform 150 hours of community service in his home state of Texas. Terms will be worked out with Texas authorities, prosecutors said. The defendant could have been imprisoned for up to a year.

Wohl no longer works for the Matthews band, said Assistant State's Atty. Robert Egan, who negotiated the plea deal.

Several lawsuits are pending against Wohl and the band in connection with the Aug. 8, 2004 incident. About 800 pounds of liquid waste were dumped from a bus holding tank onto a sightseeing cruise boat carrying more than 100 passengers as it passed beneath the Kinzie Street bridge on the Chicago River.

Wohl did not make a statement during his sentencing. In the plea agreement, he admitted discharging the waste while crossing the bridge but did not say why he did so. He acknowledged his actions caused "bodily harm."

Wohl and his attorney could not be reached for comment.

Asked to elaborate on the "bodily harm" after the court hearing, Egan said, "What would you call it if you were hit with that stuff?"

"Nobody was hospitalized, nobody had any broken bones and I personally verified that no one had any long-term illness or lasting effects from it. But a bunch of people on the boat got ill with human waste products," Egan said.

Also, some passengers soiled their cars and had to throw away their clothes afterwards, he said.

Lawsuits are pending against Wohl and the band from Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan; Mercury Skyline Yacht Charters Inc., operator of the Chicago's Little Lady tour boat; and at least one of the boat's passengers.

Mercury's suit alleged the driver dumped a "foul-smelling, brownish yellow liquid" that got into passengers' eyes, mouths and hair, creating a public nuisance and hurting business for the Palatine-based boat company.

CLTV contributed to this story.

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