Kathy Willens/AP Photo ; Gene Kappock / New York Daily News via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
Sean "Diddy" Combs helped promote and organize a celebrity charity basketball game at the City College of New York in 1991
Thousands of people tried to enter the gymnasium, but the doors were shut after it reached capacity
Hundreds of people then crowded into a staircase, which ultimately caused nine people to die
TheCity College stampedewas a tragic event that killed nine people nearly 34 years ago.
On Dec. 28, 1991, thousands of people gathered to try to watch a charity basketball game at City College in New York City. The event was heavily promoted bySean "Diddy" CombsandHeavy D, whose real name was Dwight Arrington Myers, as they were both rising hip hop celebrities and party promoters.
However, the event took a turn when an estimated 5,000 people tried to cram into a gymnasium that could only fit approximately half of them. Parts of the crowd who had not been let in rushed the lobby through stairs that led to the gym, but the doors were left closed for around 15 minutes.
Hundreds of people started getting crushed and slammed up against the doors, which eventually led to nine people dying and nearly 30 people being left with serious injuries, perHistory.com. Years after the devastating ordeal, the stampede was re-examined in the Netflix docuseries,Sean Combs: The Reckoning, which was released on Dec. 2.
In the documentary, Bad Boys co-founder Kirk Burrowes claimed that Combs assaulted his mother, Janice Combs, in a hotel room after the tragedy. Burrowes alleged that the rapper "put his hands on her. Call her a bitch and slapped her."
A few days later, Janice toldDeadline, "The allegations stated by Mr. Kirk Burrows [sic] that my son slapped me while we were conversing after the tragic City College events on December 28, 1991, are inaccurate and patently false."
She continued, "That was a very sad day for all of us. For him to use this tragedy and incorporate fake narratives to further his prior failed and current attempt to gain what was never his — Bad Boy Records — is wrong, outrageous and past offensive."
Here's everything to know about the 1991 City College stampede and how Sean "Diddy" Combs was involved.
How did the City College charity game turn into a stampede?
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On Dec. 28, 1991, Combs and Heavy D, who died in 2011, organized and promoted a charity basketball game at the City College of New York. Several upcoming musicians — includingRun-DMC,JodeciandBoyz II Men— were expected to play in the game, per theLos Angeles Times. The organizers also said that part of the ticket proceeds would go to an AIDS charity.
The event soared in popularity and drew the attention of thousands of people. The school's gymnasium had a capacity of 2,730 people, but nearly 5,000 people tried to attend,TheNew York Timesreported.
Around 5 p.m., hundreds of people had already entered the gym while thousands more waited in the lobby and outside the school. Before the game was set to start two hours later, people stormed the lobby to try to gain access to the gym via a short staircase.
However, the doors at the bottom of the staircase didn't open out to the gym and instead only opened back into the lobby. For around 15 minutes, the doors were closed and caused more and more people to gather in the waiting area with no way for the people in front to open the doors or turn back.
The crowd only continued getting bigger and people began getting crushed. As the game was starting at 7 p.m., dozens of people were fatally hurt, leading to nine deaths.
Who were the victims of the City College stampede?
Bebeto Matthews/AP Photo
After paramedics arrived at the scene, they treated several people who had been crushed and suffered injuries from suffocation. Eight people died on the scene, while one additional person died after being treated at the hospital. In addition, approximately 30 people were injured.
The nine victims included five people from the Bronx: 28-year-old Darren Brown, 24-year-old Yul Dargan, 19-year-old Laytesha Heard, 17-year-old Leonard Nelson Jr. and 20-year-old Dirk Swain, per theDaily News.
The following three victims — 26-year-old Charisse Ann Noel, 15-year-old Jabaal Rainey and 20-year-old Sonya Williams — all hailed from various parts of N.Y.C., including Harlem, Brooklyn and New Rochelle.
The final victim was 20-year-old Dawn McCaine from Brooklyn, who died after being removed from life support at St. Luke's Hospital,TheNew York Timesreported. McCaine was "unconscious and unresponsive" after being suffocated in the stampede.
How was Diddy involved in the City College stampede?
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Combs was 22 years old and a relatively unknown music producer in 1991. While he was trying to make a name for himself in the music business, he began creating and promoting parties across N.Y.C.
He partnered with rapper Heavy D to encourage people to come to "the first annual Heavy D and Puff Daddy Celebrity Charity basketball game," perTheNew York Times.They promoted the event on local radio stations and quickly made it "the place to be," attendee Jason Swain, whose brother Dirk died in the tragedy, toldCBS Newsin 2024.
"If you didn't know about that event, something was wrong with you, because it was all over the place," Jason said in the 2025 Peacock documentary,Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy.
Tim Patterson, one of Combs' childhood friends, recalled in the doc, "They promoted it like it was in a 10,000-seat arena ... City College holds 2,700."
Shortly after the tragedy made headlines, people began wondering who was responsible. Combs subsequently held a press conference where he addressed the situation.
"My dream for this evening was to bring a positive program to my people, to people of my age, and to people in my community. Whatever must be done, must be done to ensure that this never, ever, ever, happens again," he said, as shown in the Netflix seriesSean Combs: The Reckoning.
Combs later shared his version of events in a 1998 testimony and said that the tragedy is "something I deal with every day of my life," perTheNew York Times.
"But the things that I deal with can in no way measure up to the pain that the families deal with," he added. "I just pray for the families and pray for the children who lost their lives every day."
However, Combs and his co-promoters later reflected on the ordeal and how it ultimately launched him into the spotlight further.
"That's how I really started to become famous, was through a tragedy," Combs said in a later interview, as shown inSean Combs: The Reckoning.
Was Diddy involved in lawsuits after the stampede?
Luis Ribiero/AP Photo
After investigating the stampede, police declined to make criminal charges. However, both Combs and Heavy D faced several civil lawsuits from the victims' families for years.
Several of the families filed lawsuits against Combs, Heavy D, the college and New York State. In March 1998, a judge settled the cases for $3.8 million, perTheNew York Times. Of the multi-million dollar settlement, Combs paid around 20%, totalling $750,000. Meanwhile, the state, Heavy D, a security firm and N.Y.C. paid the rest.
In 1998, a separate judge found Combs and Heavy D 50% liable, saying they had "proximately caused" the injuries and deaths, perTheNew York Times. The judge ruled that New York State, which ran the college, shared the other part of the blame.
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