Women locked inside California gym for hours after closing
FRESNO, Calif. -- Two women say they spent their Saturday night stuck inside the walls of a Fresno fitness center.
"We started walking around, calling out for help, nobody answered," said Qiona Johnson. "We tried to go out the door, found out it was locked."
The doors at the Blackstone Blast Fitness closed while Matrisha Ervin and Qiona Johnson were in the sauna.
Johnson told Action News it was funny at first when they realized they were stuck, but after almost two hours, she said it was irritating. Four days later, she's still waiting for an apology.
She and Ervin found out they were stranded in the building a few minutes after it closed at 8 p.m. Even as they tried to negotiate their release, the friends found humor in their dilemma and posted about it on Facebook.
"Everybody was commenting and laughing," Johnson said. "They made it fun for us, so it kind of wasn't so bad."
But Johnson's own comments reflected an emotional turn of events. Their situation went from funny to scary as minutes turned to hours.
The ladies tried everything they could think of to get out: They pushed on doors. They called another Blast Fitness center and asked for help. They even briefly considered a Facebook suggestion that they use the gym's weights to break a window. Instead, they finally just called police.
"I called 911," Johnson said. "I'm like, 'We gotta get out of here.' We're hungry, started hearing things, scared."
Police confirm an officer arrived at nearly 9:30. An employee finally reopened the doors almost 20 minutes later.
Johnson said she got no apology from the employee and never heard from corporate offices when she complained to Blast Fitness.
A small sign near the door does mention the gym's hours, and regional vice president Jesus Mendoza said closing announcements are supposed to be made every ten minutes in the last hour the gym is open, but they can't be heard in the sauna.
The VP also told Action News an employee thought he checked the sauna that night, but obviously didn't. He's since been disciplined.
