Seventh Victim of Indiana State Fair Stage Crash Dies
At least four dozen others were injured.
Aug. 22, 2011 -- Meagan Toothman, a 24-year-old high school cheerleading coach, became the seventh person to die from injuries suffered when a stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair on Aug. 13, according to the Associated Press.
Indiana State Police said Toothman died Sunday night. Toothman was the head cheerleading coach at Turpin High School in Cincinnati, Ohio.
At least four dozen others were injured when the stage crashed in high winds during a concert.
The fair reopened on Aug. 15 after a memorial service to remember the victims of the accident.
Addressing a silent but teary crowd of hundreds, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels told the mourners, "We come today with hearts that are broken but also hearts that are full."
"There was a hero every 10 feet on Saturday night," Daniels said. "I cannot tell you how proud I am to be the employee of six-and-a-half million people like that."
David Wood, a concert attendee who was in the front row but survived, described on "Good Morning America" a chaotic, but heroic, scene following the stage's fall.
"Chaos, it was chaos," he said. "It was amazing how many people were jumping in, saying, 'I'm a doctor, I'm an EMT.' It was astonishing."
"It was more like an instinct," he said of jumping to help those around him. "There was no thinking involved."
Wood had gathered with nearly 12,000 others on the same grounds where the memorial was held to watch a staple of state fairs, live country music, performed by the duo Sugarland. Minutes before the band was set to appear on the outdoor stage, winds of up to 70 mph blew down thousands of pounds of steel scaffolding, wooden beams, lighting, sound and other equipment.
Sara Bareilles, who opened for the duo, sang on the stage shortly before it collapsed at around 8:49 p.m., and described the scene.
"The weather changed in a matter of minutes and the stage collapsed in a matter of seconds. We are shocked and saddened by this horribly tragic circumstance and we are all praying for those affected," she wrote on her website, where she also recalled the events of the night as like "a bad dream."
"The emergency response was incredibly speedy and the people of Indiana as well as the crews from the show were beyond brave and working hard to help each other," she wrote. "My heart aches for the lives lost or injured as well as their families. We will do whatever we possibly can to help heal the hurt from this very sad day."
In a statement released to the Associated Press, Sugarland singer Jennifer Nettles said she watched recaps of the collapse on the news "in horror."
"I am so moved," she said. "Moved by the grief of those families who lost loved ones. Moved by the pain of those who were injured and the fear of their families. Moved by the great heroism as I watched so many brave Indianapolis fans actually run toward the stage to try and help lift and rescue those injured. Moved by the quickness and organization of the emergency workers who set up the triage and tended to the injured."
Nettles and Kristian Bush, who perform as Sugarland, canceled their Sunday show at the Iowa State Fair.
Investigation Into Collapse Widens
The fair's reopening after a day of being closed on Sunday comes as state officials widen their investigation of the cause of the stage's collapse and what role the weather, particularly such a forceful gust wind, might have played.
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