What happens when 3000 people show up for a 5th grade graduation ceremony in an auditorium that holds only 489?  In New York, a riot, according to the New York Lawyer.

Brooklyn’s P.S. 92 (for you Texans, “P.S.” stands for public school) decided to hold its graduation at Medger Evers College auditorium.  The idea sounds nice, but it’s just not that big a venue.  While the story doesn’t say how many children were graduating, there must have been a bunch of uncles, aunts, cousins and the like who showed for the big event.  What a happy occasion, and everybody wanted to be there to celebrate.

But when the number of people exceeds the number of seats, by a magnitude of almost 10, there are only two possible outcomes.  One, the guests engage in excessive courtesy, allowing the handful of ticket holders access in a display of grace and understanding befitting the occasion.  Or, mass chaos followed by pushing, fist fights and ultimately the subduing of warfare though the use of mace and beatings.

This was Brooklyn.  Which one do you think happened?

Norma Robinson, who held a ticket for the ceremony, was one of the proud parents who came to Medgar Evers College auditorium for the joyous event.  And ended up maced and beaten by security guards, suffering a torn ligament to her shoulder.  She sued the City for failure to properly supervise the event.  Her case was tossed.

Supreme Court Justice Robert J. Miller dismissed Norma Robinson’s case, holding that a security guard’s actions, not the city’s alleged failure to properly supervise the event, was the proximate cause of her injuries.

“The testimony of plaintiff is clear that she was injured as a result of being maced and hit with a night stick by College employees,” Miller held in Robinson v. City of New York, 1151/04.

“Notwithstanding the City’s actions or inactions in failing to supervise the collecting of tickets, the Court finds that the actions of the security guards was not a foreseeable event caused by the City’s alleged negligence and further finds that any breach by the City of its duty on the day of the graduation was not the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries.”

Curious.  It didn’t strike a Brooklyn judge as foreseeable that security guards would try to quell a riot that happens when a city school fails to take reasonable steps to control the 3000 who showed when there were only 489 seats available?  Frankly, I’m surprised that they didn’t start shooting into the crowd, which I consider eminently foreseeable under these circumstances.  Hey, this is Brooklyn, after all.

And is Robinson left to sue the security guard who maced and beat her with a club?

The identity of the security guard is not known. Robinson, who referred to the guard in her complaint as the “fat one,” names “John Doe” and “Jane Doe” as defendants in her suit.

I guess the “fat one” doesn’t narrow it down as much as John and Jane Doe.