SEEKONK — A shoulder-to-shoulder crowd of thousands, some of them drunk and unruly. Walkways and aisles almost entirely blocked by people. Unauthorized beer stands. Fights. Massive traffic jams.

The July 6 “Thrill Show” at Seekonk Speedway was a mess, by public safety officers’ estimation. So many people crammed into the speedway that hot evening for the races and fireworks that the police couldn’t even hazard a guess on the crowd count.

Police Chief Ronald R. Charron said too many people, too much alcohol and too little oversight by speedway staff culminated in an incident where police officers and firefighters responding to a demolition derby accident were pelted by rocks and beverage bottles allegedly thrown by spectators.

Lt. David S. Dyson’s knuckles were split open. Officer Thomas Hedrick said he elected not to arrest one man who allegedly climbed over the fence onto the track because Hedrick thought doing so would enflame the crowd, who were chanting “Let him go!” Officers who were called to the track for backup — with pepper-ball guns — were delayed by the traffic on Route 6.

“It was a very serious situation,” Charron said. “I was very concerned we were going to lose control. We had a major public safety calamity on our hands there.”

For more than two hours last night, the Board of Selectmen heard a litany from the Police and Fire departments about the speedway’s potentially serious violations of its alcohol and entertainment licenses and safety requirements.

The selectmen also heard from a lawyer for speedway owner Francis Venditti, who characterized the event as “thousands of people having a good time.”

Frank Smith said the track does not condone the behavior of spectators who tossed things at the officers. Doing so, the lawyer said, was “un-American.”

(Venditti, who attended last night’s public hearing but did not testify, told The Journal that after the event the crowd was just trying to direct the police’s attention to an injured driver.)

But enjoying a night at the racetrack and watching fireworks is decidedly American, Smith said. He said last year’s Fourth of July event at the raceway went off without a hitch.

“What’s changed in a year? In a year, this country is facing great financial distress,” he said. “Thousands of people felt on this Fourth of July that this was a place to come to” for an affordable night out.

But the crowd, some of them fueled by alcohol, was unmanageable, police officers told the selectmen.

The lines for the bathrooms and the concession and beer stands were long and blocked exits and walkways. Spectators sat atop generators and walls. Police officers trying to check on a track employee who had fallen had to exit the stadium and re-enter through a side entryway just to get to her, Dyson said.

Fire Chief Alan R. Jack said he arrived at the track around 6:45 p.m. to find a choking crowd.

“It was very, very overcrowded,” he said. “You literally had to wait for people to move and you had to turn sideways. I could not see the oval because of the depth of the people… We were at the point where it was too late. There wasn’t much we could do.”

Dyson said Charron overheard one spectator saying, “Grab his gun” as Dyson walked by.

Officer James Moore said he broke up a fight between spectators who had been “in close quarters for hours and verbally trading barbs all day long.”

“This act,” Moore told the board, “along with the heat and alcohol fueled over to a pushing match.”

The speedway’s capacity is 15,651, including standing-room only seats, Jack said.

The speedway is permitted to sell alcohol from the main concession stand and two satellite stands, town officials said.

But the police told the selectmen that the speedway had at least four additional, portable beer stands open on July 6, all of which blocked egress.

The police learned that several drunken spectators were still sold alcohol. Two men in a Fire Department video of the evening are seen clutching three beer bottles, although it’s illegal to sell anyone more than two alcoholic drinks at a time. One patrolman said he witnessed a drunken, stumbling man spill three quarters of a beer he’d just purchased. The man returned to the stand and was given another cup, the officer said.

Charron said he received a letter this week from a Clinton, Conn., woman who attended the July 6 event and called it “truly a fiasco.”

“Every corner had some sort of concession stand for alcohol,” Charron said, reading aloud the woman’s letter. “Those who were there to get wasted didn’t have to go too far.”

When the woman asked a speedway staffer when they would shut off alcohol sales, she was reportedly told: “When the show’s over or when we run out, whichever comes first.”

To that, Smith said, “I am sorry that some lady thought she didn’t have a good time, but we can’t please everybody.”

Track owner Venditti opened the speedway’s main gate earlier than scheduled to absorb the waiting traffic on Route 6, despite Dyson’s caution that he didn’t yet have his full complement of officers ready.

By 3:45 that afternoon, Route 6 was still gridlocked. Officers asked Venditti to open an extra gate to accept more arriving spectators but Venditti reportedly drove off in his golf court, telling the police he “didn’t want a traffic jam in my parking lot.”

Dyson said that in hindsight he should have trumped Venditti and opened the gate up himself.

“We’re not against the speedway having a successful night. It’s apple pie and July 4 and all that,” Charron said. “But what we need to address is public safety concerns overall.”

“We would have had problems trying to remove someone for a medical emergency or responding to a large disturbance,” Dyson said.

Smith, the speedway’s lawyer, said the overcrowding situation is no different in Seekonk than at Fenway Park or Gillette Stadium.

“As a United States of America citizen,” Smith said, “I see thousands of people [at the speedway] that looked like they were having a good time.”

Charron has a laundry list of recommendations to improve safety at the speedway on special-event night. These include: halting alcohol sales an hour before the start of the fireworks show; requiring the speedway to submit documentation showing staff are properly trained to serve alcohol; assigning more speedway staff to crowd and traffic control; requiring that speedway lights be lit during fireworks displays; opening the west gate to alleviate Route 6 traffic; and barring re-entry to curtail drinking in the parking lot. Police officers must also arrive earlier to be prepared for unanticipated early-gate openings, Charron said.

The selectmen continued the public hearing on the matter to its Aug. 13 meeting. In the meantime, Charron, Jack, Smith and Town Administrator Michael J. Carroll will meet to review the issue.

mwims@projo.com