New Video Surfaces Of Beaten Giants Fan At Dodger Stadium
LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) - Los Angeles police are examining a video that purportedly shows San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow being confronted by a Dodgers fan inside Dodger Stadium before he was savagely beaten in a parking lot on opening day.
The brief low-resolution video posted by TMZ.com on Monday shows a man in Dodgers gear pointing at a man who resembles Stow and swearing in Spanish. The Giants fan's hands are raised protectively.
TMZ claims the video was taken before Stow was beaten by two men and left brain-damaged in the parking lot after the game. TMZ also said the Dodgers fan isn't Giovanni Ramirez, who was arrested as the main beating suspect but hasn't been charged. The website identifies the man as longtime Dodger fan Juan Banda.
"Detectives are currently looking at the video to determine whether or not it's going to be helpful to the investigation and the investigation is currently ongoing," police spokeswoman Jacquelyn Abad said.
Stow, a 42-year-old Santa Cruz paramedic and father of two, was wearing Giants apparel at the March 31 game. Police said that after the game, two men attacked Stow in the stadium parking lot. He was knocked down, beaten and left in critical condition with head injuries.
The confrontation shown in the video "appears to be the tail end of a verbal confrontation," said TMZ, which declined to discuss how it obtained the video.
"We do not release information on our sources," TMZ publicist Casey Carver said an email.
Asked whether TMZ had confirmed that the video was genuine and taken on opening day, Carver responded in another email: "We confirm all stories that are put up on the site."
John Stow, Bryan Stow's cousin, said he watched the video and agreed that it definitely shows his cousin.
"The girl who actually took the video talked to our family this morning," he said. "She said this guy was kinda coming in and trying to instigate a fight with my cousin. Bryan just put his hands up and told him to respect the game. You see his hands are up in the air."
It's not easy to watch the video, knowing that his cousin was beaten later that the evening, John Stow said.
Ramirez is being held on a parole violation that is not related to the Stow case. His attorneys claim that video evidence will show that their client did not match the suspect description at the time of the attack.
San Francisco General Hospital's head of neurosurgery upgraded Stow's condition from critical to serious last week.
Stow is still unconscious but has been responding intermittently to commands to open and close his eyes, and has some spontaneous left arm movement. He is also now breathing with a tracheostomy collar instead of a ventilator, according to doctors.
(Copyright 2011 by CBSSan Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services may have contributed to this report.)
