Mardi Gras safety will be a big topic in New Orleans over the months ahead, after a second person in three days was struck and killed by a Mardi Gras float. 58-year-old Joseph Sampson died Saturday after a passing tandem float hit him at the Endymion parade. The city has banned the use of tandem floats, but Endymion Vice President Charles Bruno does not believe a tandem float is to blame.
“The gentlemen may have tripped, may have fallen, he may have been pushed because of the crowd, we don’t know that yet, that’s under investigation by the police department,” said Bruno.
Last Wednesday a 58-year-old woman was run over by a parade float and died. Endymion President Dan Kelly is calling on city leaders to come up with a plan to prevent future tragedies.
“We would also like the mayor and the city council to form a task force with other carnival organizations to discuss efforts to improve safety at Mardi Gras parades,” said Kelly.
Some say banning tandem floats is not the answer to preventing further deaths during the raucous street parades. Others say the city should put up more barricades keeping partygoers off the street. But Bruno says more barricades can create a different problem.
“But again you have to address the relative equities of that with suppose somebody’s pushed up against the barricade in a larger crowd,” said Bruno.
And on Sunday two krewe members on different floats in the Thoth parade fell off and had to be rushed to the hospital. Officials say both riders are in stable condition.
(Photo courtesy of Vondra Mack.)
