GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Several people are recovering from injuries after an incident at the Beyond Van Gogh exhibit at DeVos Place on Wednesday afternoon.
Tim Ziegler was there after buying tickets months ago for him, his daughter, son-in-law and three grandkids.
"We were excited about it," he says.
But it wasn't long before their excitement turned to fear.
"It was a short period of time of panic," says Ziegler.
It was in the first portion of the exhibit that things took a turn.
"We could hear things crashing," says Ziegler. "All the sudden we heard somebody yelling help."
And when Ziegler turned around to see what was going on, he was met with part of the exhibit falling towards him.
"This big canopy and the framework was coming right at me," says Ziegler.
He says his son-in-law immediately yelled for people to run, getting guests out of the way as more of the framework fell.
"It was like dominoes, they just kept falling and coming at us," says Ziegler.
A spokesperson for the event tells 13 ON YOUR SIDE a guest at the exhibit felt faint and grabbed a drape for support, causing the exhibit to fall.
Ziegler says no one from the event came to tell them what happened and what they were doing to make it safer.
"To me, that was pretty unsettling because nobody knew what the rest of this display had in store for us," says Ziegler.
The whole ordeal left his family fearful.
"My one granddaughter, I mean, she was terrified," says Ziegler. "She wouldn't come back in to see the rest of the display."
Ziegler says his daughter is planning to ask the event for their money back, but he would rather see the artwork better secured in the future.
"I'm less concerned about the money than I am about protecting anybody else who comes to this," says Ziegler.
Ziegler says he's thankful that none of his family members were hurt.
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