The Dave Matthews Band, a rock group so “green” it has its own flavor of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, could face $70,000 in fines after one of its tour bus drivers allegedly dumped a tankful of human waste on a Chicago River sightseeing boat earlier this month.
After a two-week investigation into an incident that prompted outrage from Chicago’s mayor and snickering from late-night television hosts, Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan on Tuesday accused the band and driver Stefan Wohl (the name as published has been corrected here and in subsequent references in this text) of illegally dumping foul-smelling muck into the river and creating a public nuisance.
About two-thirds of the passengers on the upper deck of Chicago’s Little Lady were doused with a brownish-yellow liquid as the tour boat crossed under the Kinzie Street bridge during an Aug. 8 architectural sightseeing cruise.
Some of the passengers suffered nausea and vomiting after the waste cascaded into their eyes and mouths and soaked their hair and clothing. Five went to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for tests.
Witnesses told authorities the deluge of waste came from a long black tour bus crossing the grated bridge. At least one witness gave police an Oregon license plate number.
Surveillance cameras at neighborhood businesses helped Madigan’s investigators and Chicago police detectives trace the bus to Wohl, a Texas man who is identified in the complaint as one of five drivers for the Dave Matthews Band, authorities said.
Wohl was driving to pick up a band member at a Michigan Avenue hotel when the bus crossed the bridge, according to the three-count civil complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court. Later that evening, the band played the second of two shows at Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wis.
A band publicist issued a statement Tuesday night saying, “Our driver has stated that he was not involved in this incident. We reserve any judgment until we see the evidence.”
Luxury coaches like the ones leased by the band are equipped with 80- to 100-gallon waste tanks that are emptied underneath the vehicle by pushing a toggle switch behind the driver’s seat, according to the attorney general’s complaint.
In addition to seeking fines for violations of state laws, Madigan said she is asking the court to order an evaluation of the band’s waste disposal practices. State officials said most charter buses dump waste at licensed disposal facilities.
“This incident may be unique, but that does not lessen the environmental or public health risks posed by the release of at least 800 pounds of liquid human waste into a busy waterway and onto a crowded tour boat,” Madigan said in a statement. “This situation clearly demonstrates the environmental and public health problems that can occur when laws are ignored. This act was not only offensive, it was illegal.”
Two weeks ago, another driver for the band, Jerry Fitzpatrick, denied responsibility for the incident, saying his bus had been parked at a nearby hotel at the time. He even coaxed a Downstate police officer to inspect the bus and report that the waste tank was nearly full.
“This band is very environmentally conscious,” Fitzpatrick said then. “We wouldn’t have anything to do with this sort of thing.”
In several interviews, Dave Matthews has said one of the reasons his band contributes to environmental causes is to offset air pollution from its tour buses.
Ben and Jerry’s, the socially conscious ice cream maker, named its One Sweet Whirled flavor (caramel and coffee ice cream with marshmallow and caramel swirls and coffee-flavored fudge chips) after one of the band’s songs. Half of the band’s royalties from sales of the ice cream are donated to a coalition of environmental groups to combat global climate change.
In Chicago, the tour boat incident provoked an angry Mayor Daley to promise that the culprit would be caught. All of the 120 passengers on the ill-fated sightseeing cruise were given refunds for their $25 tickets. Some later filed insurance claims with the tour operators seeking compensation for clothing and personal items that got soaked.
“It’s not about the money for us,” said Lynn Osmond, president and CEO of the Chicago Architectural Foundation, which operates the boat tour. “It’s about the fact that somebody dumped on our customers.”
‘You have to hold him accountable’
Nancy Todor isn’t a Dave Matthews fan, but now she has even more reason not to become one.
Todor of Elmhurst had her 43rd birthday ruined a few weeks ago when she was on the boat cruise that got soaked with waste that allegedly came from one of the singer’s tour buses.
“I started retching immediately,” Todor said of her experience on the boat.
Todor believes that $70,000 in fines–the amount the Dave Matthews Band and a driver could be fined after being accused of illegally dumping muck into the river and creating a public nuisance–is not a sufficient punishment.
“I don’t understand what gives somebody the idea they could dump waste into a public waterway regardless of whether or not a boat was passing,” Todor said. “$70,000 just doesn’t seem like enough.”
Todor said she also is disappointed because she learned from her kids, who are Matthews fans, that the band promotes environmentally conscious lifestyles.
“Maybe he didn’t know what happened and he’s disappointed too,” Todor said. “But you have to hold him accountable.”
Todor also suggested that Matthews consider performing a concert for the sullied boat tour customers.
“It might be proper restitution.”
