 by the end of the festival scaffolding and security barriers were destroyed arsonists torched vendors tents and the campgrounds looked like a war zone new york state police trooper jim simpson was one of some 500 officers called onto the festival site here's what he said in a story on npr it was a pretty ugly scene for most of the night when you have a crowd you know of an excess of 100 000 150 000 people and certain uh bunch of them start something like this it gets a little contagious and uh