Tuesday, August 02, 2011

More Tragedy, Details, From The Stow Case

Matthew Lee, a friend of Bryan Stow's who went to the fateful game where Stow was assaulted in the parking lot--and a key witness in the prosecution's case against Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood--has died from an allergic reaction to nuts eaten in a salad. Yikes.

A key witness in the beating case of Giants fan Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium died suddenly, apparently of an allergic food reaction.

According to law enforcement sources familiar with the case, Matthew Lee died Sunday after eating a salad that apparently contained nuts, which caused the allergic reaction. The coroner has not determined a cause of death, however.

Stow and Lee went to the Dodgers' home opener together with a group of friends.

It's unclear how this will affect the case against Stow's alleged attackers, but the sources said Lee was an important witness.

However, officials have said they have physical evidence in addition to the evidence provided by eyewitnesses to the beating.

Los Angeles police detectives said Monday they were trying to find additional Giants fans from the Bay Area who were assaulted by the suspects.

On top of that, court documents were released Monday that described Stow's beating, and it isn't pretty:

Newly released details in the attack that outraged baseball fans across the nation indicate that suspects Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood initially went after a group of young Giants fans in the stadium parking lot, with Sanchez taking a swing at one of them.

Detectives think he may have hit other fans in the same group, though no one else has come forward.

Then, Bryan Stow and a group of friends walked past as Sanchez stood by his sister's car. Sanchez hit two of them before chasing down Stow and punching him from behind in the side of his head, prosecutors said in a court document filed Monday.

"Stow's friends, who are paramedics, describe that Stow immediately lost consciousness and fell sideways to the ground without breaking his fall," the document states. "When Stow's head hit the ground witnesses heard his head impact the concrete and saw it bounce."

Sanchez then kicked the unconscious Stow several times in the head while Stow's friends tried to shield him with their bodies, prosecutors said.

Norwood is also accused of kicking Stow then standing over his prone body and saying, "Who else wants to fight?"

If this is really how this went down (and I'm assuming that we have the correct assailants this time), this is totally unacceptable, and as a Dodger fan I'm even more outraged and embarrassed at the behavior of these miscreants. Throw the book at 'em.

3 comments:

Fernie V said...

That is bad, I regret everything bad I ever said. I guess that is why my dog got attacked the other day and needed stitches.

spank said...

Shit happens.

Kyle Baker said...

This is bad,bad...no doubt about it. And inexcusable. But I continue to advocate for not just centering on this case and reminding the wider public of the scourge that it is. There are hundreds of thousands of Dodger fans who DIDN'T do something like this, and continuing to focus on Stow and the douches that did him ignores so many great fans who are real Blue. Many of whom make real differences in people's lives every day as teachers, parents, first responders, janitors, etc. It's getting to be like watching the local news where only the negative is highlighted.