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'Foulmouthed Drunks' Raise Fears Of Stow-Like Incident At Hollywood Bowl

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A confrontation at the Hollywood Bowl reported in the Pasadena Weekly raises concerns that a "Bryan Stow"-type incident could happen at the fabled venue.

Kevin Urich, editor of the Pasadena Weekly, said he encountered a group of nearly 20 young people he described as "foulmouthed drunks" while on a recent date with his girlfriend to see the L.A. Philharmonic.

Urich told KNX 1070's Ed Mertz the situation escalated when he and other nearby patrons asked the group to quiet down.

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"A number of guys in the group got rowdy and started shouting things and shouting obscenities very loudly," Urich said.

But it wasn't only Urich and his girlfriend who were harassed: he said his girlfriend saw another patron who was with two young daughters being sexually harassed by the rowdy attendees.

"One of the characters in the group grabbed her and groped her...her breast," said Urich.

Security then reportedly moved the man and his daughters to other seats and offered to do the same for Urich.

But according to Urich, the security personnel were less than aggressive in removing the troublemakers, saying they were not "going to change the world tonight".

A lack of any visible security presence near the nosebleed seats could be the problem, Urich said.

But at least one local law enforcement official disagrees with Urich's assessment.

"The Philharmonic decides what kind of security they will have inside the venue," said L.A. County Sheriff's Capt. Steve Smith.

Although the Hollywood Bowl is technically property of the county, deputies do not provide security during events at the venue -- a move Smith said is "always open for discussion".

While the Bowl's assistant director of operations Mark Ladd did not want to be recorded, he did say that they review every reported incident and take all security matters very seriously.

Ladd said that while another Bryan Stow-type incident can happen anywhere, the Bowl does all it can to diminish the possibility of it happening there.

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