Copa America fans recount chaos in Miami: "Nowhere to breathe"
MIAMI – Chaos at the Copa America final left soccer fans scared and outraged, with some paying thousands of dollars in tickets and never making it into the match between Argentina and Colombia.
Video posted on social media showed fans jumping over security railings near the southwest entrance of the stadium and running past police officers and stadium attendants. Screams could be heard in the background.
Attendee Patrick Lynch showed CBS News Miami video of him trapped in a sea of blue and yellow jerseys, just feet away from the Hard Rock Stadium gates. He said he was stuck in the crush for hours with his girlfriend.
"There was nowhere to breathe," he said.
Cheyenne Foster, who drove from Georgia to attend the match, said she saw people climbing a vine to get into the stadium. She recalled people "aggressively shoving" in the crowd. Once inside, Foster said she had to sit at the top of the stadium because someone was sitting in her purchased seat in the lower level. She said she's still "so stressed out about the experience."
After the chaos outside the stadium, Lynch made it to his seat with his girlfriend, cheering on the winning side. "I hate to say it, but it really did make it all worth it," he said.
Others were not as fortunate. Lynch said he knew people who flew in from Argentina but were denied entry.
Another soccer fan wrote to CBS News Miami to say that he spent more than $10,000 for tickets and parking, but was never allowed inside to watch the final.
In a statement issued Monday, Hard Rock Stadium officials said they "decided to open stadium gates for a short period" to prevent serious injury. They then closed the gates and did not reopen them.
Officials said 27 people, including Colombia's soccer federation president Ramón Jesurún and his son Ramón Jamil Jesurún, were arrested, and 55 were ejected from the stadium.