Taste Marred By Violence

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jul 2, 2010 2:20PM

A relatively peaceful Taste of Chicago was marred last night by violence and a power outage. Three teens were stabbed in two separate incidents as the Taste crowd let out for the night and there were reports of numerous fights. While the violence wasn't quite as bad as the shootout at the OK Corral that broke out two years ago, it was still an unwelcome interruption in what had been, to this point, a relatively peaceful Taste.

The first stabbing occurred in the 200 block of S. State Street around 9:25 p.m. when a 15-year-old, who police described as a known gang member, was stabbed after, according to the Tribune, he "encountered a group of fighting males." Two other teens, one 14 and one 15, were stabbed 15 minutes later near the same location in what police think may have been the same fight. About the same time as the first stabbing, just a block south in the 300 block of S. State St., police had to taser a man to subdue him as he tried to fight with police. Other witness reports indicated at least one other large fight that prompted a large police response as the Taste let out. Adding insult to injury (literally) was a brief power outage when a transformer blew near the Art Institute.

WGN has raw video of the aftermath here. Not surprisingly, no one was in custody for any of the stabbings as of earlier this morning. We can't imagine this will make Mayor Daley very happy or help Jody Weis' argument for a contract renewal.