OAKLAND, CALIF. (AP) - A man who tried to catch a woman who jumped from the third level of the Oakland Raiders’ stadium has been released from the hospital.
Alameda County sheriff’s Sgt. J.D. Nelson says the injured man was released from the hospital Monday, a day after he broke the woman’s fall after she plunged about 45 feet at the O.co Coliseum.
Nelson says the 61-year-old man is recuperating at his home in Stockton.
Nelson says the woman remains hospitalized in critical condition. She jumped shortly after the Raiders’ 23-19 loss to the Tennessee Titans as fans filed out of the stadium Sunday afternoon.
The names of the man and the woman have not been released.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
A woman who jumped from the third level of the Oakland Raiders’ stadium survived after a man tried to catch her and broke her fall, authorities said.
The woman, who was not identified, was critically injured Sunday after plunging about 45 feet at O.co Coliseum. She jumped shortly after the Raiders’ 23-19 loss to the Tennessee Titans, as fans filed out of the stadium.
The good Samaritan was seriously injured but was conscious and talking at the hospital, police said.
“He saved her life quite honestly, at his own expense,” Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. J.D. Nelson told the Oakland Tribune (https://bit.ly/1iLOyBk ). “This guy 100 percent saved her life. She’d be dead now.”
Nelson said the woman went to a seating area that was covered by a tarp and appeared to be alone when she jumped. Fans who spotted her tried to stop her.
“I yelled at her, `Don’t do it, please don’t do it!’ about 10 times. But she crawled out to the edge and jumped,” witness Ron Brown of Sacramento told KTVU-TV (https://bit.ly/1fC3dj5 ).
The injured man was with a friend lingering near the flagpoles and Al Davis commemorative flame when he saw the commotion around the woman, Nelson told KTVU-TV.
The man also repeatedly shouted, “Don’t do it,” as he lunged toward the woman as she dropped and was knocked down as he tried to catch her, Nelson said.
Arriving paramedics found the woman in very critical condition, and the man also injured on the concourse. Initially, they thought she fell on him, but witnesses say he actually jumped to where she was falling, and tried to save her.
Nelson visited the injured man in the hospital Sunday evening.
“He just couldn’t imagine having people see that,” Nelson said. “He said it was a reaction. Even now, at the hospital he’s very concerned about her. He’s a real compassionate person.”
The 61-year-old man’s name was not released. Nelson told KTVU that the man is from Stockton and he has served in the Marine Corps. He is also a longtime Raiders fan and a season ticket holder.
The fall was the second such incident at an NFL game on Sunday. In Baltimore, a 48-year-old man was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after he fell on some stairs at M&T Bank Stadium during the Ravens game against the New York Jets, authorities said.
No updates on the man’s condition were available.
Last weekend, two fans were injured in Orchard Park, N.Y., after one fan slid down a railing from the upper deck of Ralph Wilson Stadium during the Buffalo Bills’ home game against the Jets. Both were briefly hospitalized and released.
On the NFL’s opening day this year, a fan died from a fall off a pedestrian overpass outside Candlestick Park in San Francisco, and two others were injured when a railing collapsed at the Colts game against the Raiders in Indianapolis.
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