The security that was at Dodger Stadium on Opening Day of the 2011 baseball season failed to protect Giants fan Bryan Stow. As a result, the people responsible for staffing that security need to be held responsible for what happened to him, regardless of what the Dodgers would have you believe.
According to the Associated Press, the Dodgers are asking for the court to disallow the claim filed by Stow and his family that would have the team held responsible for his beating.
In part of the 37-page motion, the Dodgers claim that they are not responsible for the safety of the fans who attend their games.
The Stow claim is, when stripped to its core, based on the faulty premise that a landowner is an insurer of the safety of persons on its property.
As a part of the report, the Dodgers also claim that they were adequately staffed for the March 31 game.
The Dodgers said there were 442 security personnel in the ballpark and parking lots that day, including police. The team said that was an increase from 398 for the 2010 opener and 308 for the first home game in 2009.
Yet here we are, nearly a year later. Fortunately, Stow is alive and even talking, although he is permanently brain damaged. But this came after a coma that lasted nearly the entire season. Clearly, the security was not adequate; the nature of the attack tells us that.
The wounds Stow sustained did not come from being shot or stabbed. As bad as that would be, that at least happens quickly. Theoretically, you can easily fire a shot at someone and inflict serious damage within a matter of seconds while getting away without ever being seen.
That isn’t what happened to Stow. He was attacked by two people for an extended period of time. Not only did the beating take place, but the attackers got away.
It wasn’t until July that alleged perpetrators Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood were arrested for the attack.
If a prolonged attack takes place and it takes nearly four months to arrest the alleged attackers, then your stadium and parking lot did not have adequate security. The Dodgers can cite whatever numbers they want, it doesn’t change the facts of the case.
If all of that isn’t enough for you, read something else that came from the Associated Press report.
…police described (the attacks) as the culmination of a string of confrontations they had with randomly selected Giants fans at the stadium.
According to Baseball Reference, that game lasted two hours and 50 minutes. If incidents were happening throughout the game, a stadium with adequate security would have apprehended the perpetrators long before the final out was recorded. That didn’t happen because the stadium didn’t have anywhere near enough security on staff.
Again, the numbers are irrelevant. The facts of the case tell us that the Dodgers did not go a good enough job securing the stadium and protecting the game’s fans. That is something that they need to be held responsible for.
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