‘Pray for us’ - records say school leaders worried about security before chaotic Fish Bowl
Peninsula School District leaders struggled to find off-duty police officers willing to work security for the Fish Bowl game Sept. 15 after some officers said they were either never paid or paid too slowly for prior security work, public records show.
The football game that was supposed to be a night of fun high school rivalry resulted in “chaos” and did not have enough security, according to messages sent by district officials before the game and records of the district’s interviews with coaches and others afterward.
The Fish Bowl annually attracts thousands of fans, creating logistical challenges at Roy Anderson Field, which isn’t equipped with enough seating to accommodate crowds of that size.
Superintendent Krestin Bahr told The News Tribune the district is considering significant changes that include limiting ticket sales or playing the game at a different facility.
This year there were 3,120 tickets sold, and the district made $24,992, Kris Hagel, a spokesperson for the district told The News Tribune. He added that all high school students with a valid Associated Student Body sticker on their student ID got in for free and weren’t tracked, which increased the attendance number.
Asked about the stadium’s capacity, Hagel told the Gateway the home bleachers seat 891 and the main away bleachers and smaller away bleachers seat 695. Those figures don’t include the ADA bleachers, the band standing area, the standing room along the track or other common areas, Hagel said.
A play just before halftime changed the atmosphere at the stadium. Video footage shows two Peninsula players running toward Gig Harbor quarterback Koi Calhoun after he threw an interception, which was returned past midfield, The News Tribune previously reported.
One of those players lifted Calhoun up and slammed him into the ground, after the play had ended. The play drew a personal foul late hit penalty.
What happened next is unclear. Calhoun’s parents allege the Peninsula player punched Calhoun after his helmet came off.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Sgt. Darren Moss said investigators haven’t seen any video that shows what happened definitively after the hit, but doesn’t believe punching occurred.
“What was reported by mom does not seem like it’d be realistic,” he told The News Tribune previously. “The referee was right there.”
Calhoun suffered a concussion, fractured jaw, and a displaced tooth that was broken and shoved up into his jaw. He was taken to the hospital where he had surgery.
A coach of 25 years later told school district investigators that what followed at the stadium was the closest he’d ever been to a riot atmosphere.
School Board President Natalie Wimberly declined to comment but provided a statement to The News Tribune on behalf of the board.
“The PSD Board of Directors supports the efforts of Gig Harbor High School and Peninsula High School athletics to come together and create a positive environment that focuses on the values of sportsmanship and respect,” the statement said. “We support the work the superintendent’s office has begun to repair these relationships.”
Staff worried about security in the days before the game
Public records requested by The News Tribune show that district officials were worried that they wouldn’t have enough law enforcement at the game.
Roy Anderson Field falls within the jurisdiction of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.
Per the district’s Fish Bowl Procedures 2023 document, they planned to have four Gig Harbor Police officers and four Pierce County sheriff’s deputies in attendance.
On Sept. 1, Ross Filkins, director of athletics and PHS head football coach, emailed district staff that they were having difficulty finding sheriff’s deputies, according to the records.
Deputy Nathan Betts, with the Peninsula Detachment of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, told Filkins that a sheriff’s deputy “has not been paid from last year and it’s causing others to opt for other events,” Filkins said in the email.
Filkins sent another email to Assistant Superintendent Dan Gregory on Sept. 11 — four days before the game.
“I just spoke to Nathan Betts and we currently don’t have any coverage by (the sheriff’s department) for us on Friday, due to multiple factors,” he wrote. “Deputy Betts said the main reason being slow, or no payment, to deputies for prom and last year’s Fish Bowl? I am waiting to see how many GHPD officers we get, but this definitely puts us in a safety bind.”
Hagel, the PSD spokesperson, confirmed the allegations of slow or no pay were true. He did not go into detail about how long delays were.
“Last year there was some confusion around getting PCSD officers paid,” he said. “We are hoping to fix those issues and work with the department to possibly create a contract similar to GHPD, where we can pay the police association instead of officers directly.”
The day before the Fish Bowl Elizabeth Wehmier, athletic secretary at PHS, sent Deputy Betts a text message asking if anyone had signed up to work the game the following day.
After Betts said no, Wehmier texted back: “Pray for us.”
She also sent Lisa Schroader at the Gig Harbor Fire Department an email to make sure crews would be able to be there Friday night.
“Ross (Filkins) just wanted me to check in and make sure that we are good Friday night,” she wrote. “He gets nervous about such a big crowd.”
The night before the game, after learning no officers from the PCSD were willing to work the event, Gregory asked Gig Harbor Police Chief Kelly Busey if he was willing to help out.
Busey was the only law enforcement officer who worked the game.
He told The News Tribune GHPD officers had always been paid when they took off-duty assignments from the school district. Maybe it wasn’t as quick as they wanted, but his officers have never been left unpaid, he said.
Busey added that three of his officers were on the East Coast for a wedding, so the department was already short-staffed that night.
Busey was surprised at the size of the crowd and said more officers had covered the event in the past.
The district placed additional bleachers in the stadium for students to stand on. While students were standing on them before the game, the bleachers started to cave in Hagel said. About about 30 minutes before the game started, he made the decision to take the bleachers down for safety reasons.
Overflow fans were allowed to stand around the track, as they have before.
When asked why they did not limit ticket sales after learning there would only be one law enforcement officer at the game, Hagel said the district felt having additional school staff present would be enough, but that reducing capacity or hosting the Fish Bowl at a different facility in the future is something they are currently considering.
Hagel said the district’s two new school safety officers and its three security specialists — all either former law enforcement or corrections officers — were at the game.
There were also 19 district administrators and staff such as school principals and teachers at the game to oversee students, Hagel said.
Hagel said the district has begun preparations for the upcoming Fish Bowl basketball games and that conversations with local law enforcement about coverage for those games have started.
Agreement with the Gig Harbor Fire Department
The school district does not have and never has had a contract with Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One. Crews agreed to have one fire engine at the Fish Bowl. But, if a critical call came, they would leave the game to respond to it, according to Fire Chief Dennis Doan.
Peninsula isn’t the only district with that sort of arrangement. For example, Tacoma Public Schools does not have a contract with a fire agency, Kathryn McCarthy, a TPS spokesperson told The News Tribune.
“If the school district wants a different level of service, like standby paramedics with a transport unit on scene dedicated to the football game, they would have to sign a contract with us and pay for that,” Doan said.
Hagel said getting a contract with Gig Harbor Fire and Medic One is something the school district will do.
During the game the Gig Harbor Fire engine and battalion chief were attending to an intoxicated unresponsive student in a Honey Bucket who needed an ambulance.
The district’s Fish Bowl Procedures 2023 document states there is “no tolerance of drugs, alcohol or weapons.”
While the engine and medic unit attended to the person in the bathroom, they were told there was an injured player on the field. The engine crew left the unresponsive student in the bathroom with the paramedics, went to take care of the player, and called a second ambulance.
Over a quarter of the Gig Harbor department ended up serving the game, Doan said.
Some argued it took too long for paramedics to get to the injured player on the field and that the ambulance couldn’t reach the field.
“They didn’t drive the ambulance onto the field and provide the medical privacy that should’ve been provided for our son,” Katie Calhoun, mother of the injured Gig Harbor quaterback, Koi Calhoun previously told The News Tribune. “And it’s critical medical time. Our son had to suffer laying on the field for so long.”
The second ambulance was dispatched at 8:03 p.m. By 8:04 p.m. the ambulance and paramedic team left Station 51 on Kimball Drive for Roy Anderson Field, Doan said.
Station 58 is the closest station to the field, but its paramedics were already on scene attending to the intoxicated student.
The Station 51 team arrived at the field at 8:12 p.m. and got to the injured player within a minute and a half at 8:14 p.m., Doan said. They transported the patient at 8:27 p.m., 24 minutes after they were called.
“There was no delay in care because we didn’t drive the ambulance onto the field,” Doan said. “It had no bearing on the patient.”
Crews evaluate each patient and situation differently, he said.
For example, sometimes a patient walks to the ambulance, sometimes they’re carried, sometimes they’re placed on a gurney.
“In this case the paramedics decided there was no reason to drive the ambulance on the field,” he said. “If they needed to, they would have.”
‘We were seconds away from a fight’
In post-game interviews conducted by the district, transcripts of which The News Tribune received through its public records request, multiple coaches said “chaos” exploded after the injury happened and that the atmosphere was dangerous.
“There was visibly a lack of police/security present at the game,” GHHS Head Football Coach Darrin Reeves told investigators. He argued that “really hurt the ability of de-escalating situations between two schools. With an event of that size there is bound to be problems with the lack of security.”
“It was very tense and volatile,” Harbor Ridge Middle School Principal Brian Wickens told investigators.
“We were seconds away from a fight,” Scott Yingling, Assistant Principal of Harbor Ridge Middle School said.
“That was a lot of people in a small space for security,” Mauritz Winquist, a PHS coach told investigators.
Reeves also told investigators that while his team was getting on the bus after the game to leave, coaches and players were hit with gel bullets from an individual shooting a pellet gun.
One coach accused the Gig Harbor High School Athletic Director, Blair Suek, of not helping to address the chaotic situation.
“I approached the GH AD begging her to go to student sections,” Brad Harrison, a PHS coach, told investigators. “She puts her hands up as if there’s nothing she could do and walked. I repeated that ‘I desperately need your help’ and she kept walking.”
Bahr would not speak specifically about that allegation, but told The News Tribune: “After the investigation it’s become clear to me and my office that our athletics departments need to improve on cooperation, respect and mutual understanding between the staff.”
After the win the Gig Harbor student section rushed the field — a normal celebration and exactly what PHS students did after their win last year.
Hagel told The News Tribune toward the end of the game it seemed like PHS was going to win. Staff prepared to prohibit that student section from rushing the field, blocking access with ropes.
But, that changed very quickly when GHHS came back and won the game. No staff on the GHHS side prepared for their students to rush the field, Hagel said.
Dan Stevens, a PHS coach, told investigators it was the closest he’d ever been to a riot atmosphere in the 25 years he’s coached football.
The district decided to postpone the junior varsity and C team Fish Bowl games scheduled for the following Monday due to “safety and security concerns,” according to public records.
Restoring a healthy rivalry
“The behavior of some of the adults during this year’s Fish Bowl did not meet the expectations we hold our staff and volunteers to, and needs to be addressed,” Bahr told The News Tribune, speaking about coaches and other district staff.
She said work has begun internally to create a positive environment.
When asked what work the district is doing to create a healthy tone between these two teams, Hagel said PSD has brought in an expert to facilitate restorative work, at the suggestion of the WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Activities Association) to help try and build a restorative culture among students and staff.
He didn’t provide details about what that restorative work will involve.
“We realize there’s a lot of work to do for next year’s Fish Bowl and we’re anticipating some big changes as to what the fan experience will look like,” Hagel said.
News Tribune archives contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include figures from the school district about the stadium’s capacity.
This story was originally published November 6, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
