Wherehouse Asked to Pay City Over Mob Scene

City officials and police Wednesday called for a La Cienega Boulevard record store to reimburse the city for the estimated $25,000 cost of quelling a crowd disturbance that erupted when thousands of hysterical fans became unruly while attempting to see the British rock group Depeche Mode.

More than 130 Los Angeles police officers in full riot gear were required to disperse at least 5,000 fans who gathered at the Wherehouse record store Tuesday night. Seven people, including one teen-age girl who was trampled, were injured as excited youths crushed against glass windows and surged forward to push through the store’s doors, police said.

City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, saying that Wherehouse officials had been “grossly negligent” to stage an event that “jeopardized the health and safety of thousands of young people,” called for the corporation to pay the cost of returning order to the mid-Wilshire neighborhood.

The Wherehouse had invited members of the four-man English synthesizer group to autograph copies of the group’s latest album at the store.

“In all my years of public service, this is the mostly incredibly poor judgment call I have ever seen,” said Yaroslavsky, who represents the district. “If we can get reimbursement for this, this would be disincentive enough for them to ever do this again.”

Without responding to Yaroslavsky’s monetary demands, a Wherehouse executive said the corporation plans to “do everything appropriate to ensure that our good community standing remains intact.”

Bruce Jesse, vice president for advertising and sales promotion, admitted that the store was unprepared for the huge turnout, which he said was nearly twice as high as that during any other record-signing event in the store’s history.

But residents who over the years have opposed commercial development in the once-calm residential neighborhood said they fear the record store may stage similar events in the future.

The record-signing was to launch Depeche Mode’s “Violator” album and was heavily publicized the week before on radio station KROQ-FM. The band was scheduled to be at the store from 9 p.m. to midnight, but group members left early amid the unruliness. By Tuesday evening, the line snaked around the store and stretched nearly 15 blocks, police said.

Residents in the surrounding neighborhood complained of noise, graffiti and increased traffic from the crowd by Tuesday afternoon, but Los Angeles Police Capt. Keith Bushey said fans were fairly well-behaved until the British band arrived.

Then, witnesses said, chaos broke out.

“Everybody was waiting, and then when the time came, everybody pushed forward,” said Marisol Argueta, 14, of Hollywood. “They kept on shoving. It was pretty scary. Short people couldn’t breathe. People were screaming, and everybody was sweating.”

Laura Motis, 17, of Costa Mesa, said as the line crushed forward, her knee gave out and she collapsed to the ground. She was stepped on by several people before a friend lifted her up and carried her away from the throng. Some fans fainted from the heat and the crushing pressure.

Some fans climbed trees hoping to catch a glimpse of their idols; others tried to push through the store’s back door, making it difficult for people to leave after they had seen the band.

“The band was too furiously trying to sign autographs to be aware of the tumult outside, but I looked around and saw oceans of people leaning on the window,” said Paul Wasserman, the group’s publicist.

“Every time I got near the window they were pounding, asking me to help them get in. I thought, ‘This is crazy, just like the old days.’ ”

Shortly after 10 p.m., police officers asked the band to leave because the safety of their fans were at risk. KROQ disc jockey Richard Blade said that Depeche Mode members were disappointed, but agreed to slip out the back door because they were concerned about the well-being of the teens.

“Nobody wanted to believe they had left, even though we had seen them leave. We had been waiting here all day and we wanted to see them so badly,” said Camisha Whitten, 18, a fan.