The Los Angeles Dodgers are investigating an incident involving stadium security that landed a lifelong fan in a local hospital opening day.
Dodgers fan Franco Rodriguez said he was brutally beaten by about 10 security guards during Thursday’s home opener against the San Francisco Giants, local media reported Friday.
Mr. Rodriguez told L.A. news outlets that the incident happened after he alerted Dodger Stadium staff about another fan “getting a hard time from security.”
“They were accusing him of doing something,” Mr. Rodriguez told CBS2 News. “I should have minded my own business.”
“The next thing you know, they come right back and said, ’Let’s go, you guys gotta go, too.’ And I said, ’What did we do?’’”
Mr. Rodriguez said he tried telling security that he wasn’t with the other fan, but that they assaulted him when he protested being removed.
“They put their hands on me, they punched me, they hit me, they marked my face,” said Mr. Rodriguez. “This is not kicking somebody out; this is beating on my face. They literally attacked me.”
“They literally beat me with their fists all over my face, back of my neck, used a baton stick on the side of my ribs,” he told City News Service. “I’ve got bruises to prove it.”
Indeed, Mr. Rodriguez spoke to local news outlets on camera after leaving the hospital Friday with a dislocated collarbone, arm in a sling and visibly injured.
“My whole side of my legs are completely bruised from the kneeing that they were doing,” he told KABC “It’s nothing that I’m making up because they have footage. It will all show what they did to me.”
Los Angeles Police Department Officer Tony Im acknowledged the incident to City News Service and said that law enforcement had responded to “a private person’s citizen’s arrest.”
“Security called us and we responded to the location,” Mr. Im said.
Responding officers took a “crime report, alleging a battery had taken place,” he added. Mr. Rodriguez was named as the suspect in that reporter, however, and risks prosecution pending further consideration, he said.
“The report will be eventually turned over to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, which could decide to file a misdemeanor charge against Rodriguez,” Mr. Im said.
The Dodgers “are investigating the matter and have no further comment at this time,” the team said in a statement.
The Giants won Thursday’s game and another Friday against the Dodgers, both by scores of 1-0. The two teams go head-to-head again Saturday night at Dodgers Stadium before finishing their four-game series Sunday evening.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.