Police believe James Darst attempted to slide down the escalator’s side rail.
New Orleans police have identified the man who died after a fall from a Harrah’s Casino escalator as James Edward Darst, a North Carolina native. Detectives for the NOPD said they do not expect foul play in Mr. Darst’s death.
Police continue their investigation, but they have learned certain facts about the case. James Darst, known as Jamie Darst to his friends, stopped along with co-workers at Harrah’s around 2:30 am. At about 3:30 am, the group went to the Masquerade Club, which is located at the center of the gaming complex.
To access the club, the group started walking up an escalator which would take them to the second floor of the complex. To access the part of the casino in which the fall happened, the group apparently had to pass a curtain and perhaps climb over a kind of partition.
Fell from the Handrail
While riding the escalator up to the 2nd floor, Jamie Darst tried to slide down the handrail of the escalator. While doing so, Darst lost his balance and fell. Several of Jamie Darst’s fellow co-workers and a number of casino patrons saw the incident happen. Police have been able to draw conclusions about the incident from these descriptions, which apparently tell the same story — the fall was the result of an accident.
Friends, strangers, and staff members immediately rushed to Jamie Darst’s side. When people checked on Darst, he was unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Statement from Dan Real
Dan Real, the general manager of Harrah’s New Orleans, expressed his condolences to James Darst’s family. Real said, “Harrah’s is fully cooperating with the local authorities, as a thorough investigation of this incident is conducted. At this time, we are not able to provide any further information on this matter.”
Reports when the story first appeared suggested that the escalators were not running when the fall happened. Also, the second floor is thought to be a storage area, with no commercial or entertainment activity taking place.
Online posters suggest there is a barricade which keeps people from accessing the escalator area, but the barricade is surmounted easily, if one is determined. It appears that the group may have been sliding down the rail in a restricted area when the tragedy happened.
Red Hat Statement
Jamie Darst was a 33-year old Charlotte resident who was in New Orleans for a 3-day conference. Darst worked for Red Hat, the world’s largest open source cloud service provider. Red Hat offers solutions for companies, including Linux platforms, JBoss Middleware, virtualization, storage, mobile services, and cloud computing.
Red Hat released a statement about the death of their employee. The statement to WBTV out of Charlotte said, “We at Red Hat were saddened to hear about this tragic accident We extend our deep condolences to Jamie’s family, friends, and coworkers.”
The obituary for Jamie Darst said he was born into a musical family, that he was a phenomenal drummer himself, and that he lived his life with gusto.
Darst had worked for Red Hat over 10 years at the time of his death. He recently had received a promotion and was in the midst of moving his family, due to the promotion. He is survived by a wife and 2 children.
About Harrah’s New Orleans
Harrah’s New Orleans is a casino-hotel which was opened on Canal Street in October 1999. The casino was the brainchild of Hawaiian developer Christopher Hemmeter, who sought a casino in New Orleans as early as 1991. After the previous Harrah’s casino in New Orleans closed in 1995, the two came together to collect a gaming license in the late 1990s.
Harrah’s casino sits one block from the Mississippi River. It contains 115,000 square feet of gaming space. That space contains a poker room, 90 table games, and 2100 slot machines.
The Harrah’s New Orleans contains a number of eating establishments, from fine dining to buffet-style restaurants. Over its early years, the casino was associated with the nearby 202-room Wyndham Riverfront Hotel. In 2006, it opened its own 450-room hotel in a 27-story building. Harrah’s is one of two gaming sites in New Orleans, along with Fair Grounds Race Course. Several other casinos have been based in New Orleans over the year, but most of those sites closed in the 1990s.
