Giants Fan Attacked at Opener
In a troubling story involving sports fans (not Philadelphia, this time), a Giants fan who traveled to the season opener between the Giants and the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium was brutally beaten. 41 year-old Brian Stow was punched in the back of the head by a Dodgers fan in the parking lot after the game, causing him to fall and hit his head on the pavement. What's worse, the two animals that attacked Stow continued to kick and punch him in the head as he lay unconscious on the ground. Stow, a father of two, is in critical condition and could have easily been killed. He currently cannot breathe on his own, and doctors were hoping that they could relieve the pressure in his skull caused by brain swelling. In fact, the Bay Citizen is reporting that Stow was placed in a medically induced coma.There will be talk about suing the Dodgers, and the liability factors will be whether there was adequate security in the parking lot, and whether the attackers had too much to drink at the stadium. But that is not the important issue right now. It is possible that the attack was unrelated to the baseball game, and perhaps Stow might have said something to incite the attack (not that this would be any justification whatsoever). Nevertheless, fights among fans of opposing teams are not rare occurrences, despite the fact that these games are essentially meaningless competitions among millionaire athletes, most of whom have little connection to the cities in which they play. The consequences of this attack are that Stow's young children (ages 6 and 11) are praying that their father will survive, hopefully without any brain damage. Many other children had to have witnessed this cowardly act. Although our main concerns are with the Stow family, hopefully the attackers are caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of California's criminal law.
My name is Christopher Fusco. I am the managing partner of Callahan & Fusco, LLC with offices in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.