RELATED: Six Flags St. Louis opens season under new ownership, direction
Just one day before a fight broke out at Six Flags St. Louis, the park's new operator warned that his patience for unruly behavior would be "very limited."
"If the market proves that they can't behave themselves, then we'll probably have to follow the trend that's going around the industry," Enchanted Parks CEO James Harhi told KMOX’s Michael Calhoun on Friday.
By Saturday night, at least 100 young people engaged in a large-scale fight on the first day of the season.
The disturbance drew a massive police response to the Eureka park, which Enchanted Parks took over just three weeks ago. Roughly 30 officers from Eureka and surrounding departments were called in to restore order. There were no known reports of injuries.
The chaos followed Enchanted's decision to begin the season without a mandatory chaperone policy, a security measure increasingly common at theme parks nationwide. Harhi told KMOX he wanted to "give people the benefit of the doubt" and allow kids to be kids, but he was clear about the consequences of disruption.
"We're not going to put up with anything," Harhi said during the Friday interview. "I’ve told my teams that... we all have to be respectful. And if they're not, we'll be showing them out the door."
Harhi noted that if the current policy failed to maintain order, the park would move toward stricter industry trends.
As of Monday morning, the park has not yet announced if a formal chaperone policy will be implemented.
