WHY DID CHICAGO POLICE CLOSE NORTH AVE. BEACH ON MEMORIAL DAY?

Nothing to do with the Chicago Police Department's unprecedented decision to close North Avenue beach on a sultry Memorial Day, Acting Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Wednesday.

One day after Mayor Rahm Emanuel blamed a surge of calls about patrons suffering from heat exhaustion for the beach closing, McCarthy stood at the mayor's side and agreed.

Asked point-blank what role, if any, gang activity or violence played in Monday's 6 p.m. closing, McCarthy said without hesitation, "None."

"There was no gang activity involved in the commander's decision to close the beach. ... It was based upon the public safety concerns where we had to get ambulances to victims on the beach and the overcrowded conditions made it difficult for that to occur," McCarthy said.

"The folks who showed up at North Avenue, what I was informed of, were suburbanites who were coming to the beach to enjoy a nice day. It was simply an overcrowding situation. It had nothing to do with anything else that was going on."

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