Levi’s Stadium was supposed to be different than Candlestick, which in its final days often saw scenes reminiscent of “Hamsterdam” from The Wire in its parking lots before and after games. And mostly, Levi’s has been different. Fights broke out in the stands at The Stick all the time. Those in the press box with binoculars were able to watch melees every other week, it seemed. I haven’t seen or heard of one fight at Levi’s … in the stands.
But in the course of just over one season, Levi’s Stadium now has two high-profile attacks caught on video. One was in a men’s restroom, when two fans’ brutal assault left another fan partially paralyzed. The other occurred in the parking lot after last night’s win over the Vikings.
The story behind last night’s incident, in which a Vikings fan was attacked and kicked by multiple 49ers fans while a security guard tried to break it up, was described by Brandon Cosio (who posted the video on Facebook).
I’m seeing a lot of comments talking bad about the 49er fans without actually knowing what happened, so….
Here’s the full story:
The Viking fan in the video and a 49er fan NOT in the video were talking smack to each other, getting into each others faces. A lot of fans from both sides were telling both people to stop and just walk to their cars. The Viking fan shoved his wife into a barrier to try to get to the 49er fan, then at that point the 49er fan walked away from the situation and that’s when the Viking fan may have got a little cocky. The Viking fan turned around and addressed everyone behind him (mostly 49er fans). He said ” what’s up, any of you fuckers want some?!” At that point everyone went silent for 2 seconds then as the Viking fan was turning around to walk away, the 49er fan in the black (at the beginning of the video who threw the first punch) tackled him to the ground. That’s where the video starts.
Here’s my quick opinion:
Don’t talk shit like that in enemy territory…he instigated the whole entire situation. Sure the 49er fans may have gone a little too far, but when you poke your chest out asking “who wants it” you’re going to get itI would like to add to this story:
ZERO cops were on the scene. ZERO. Santa Clara Police Department were no where to be found. Hopefully they can show up and arrest the parties in this video. Also give recognition to the security guard in the yellow jacket who was first on the scene, brave man getting in the middle of that brawl.
The video is no longer available. As proof that the video actually existed and depicted some pretty nasty stuff, here are a couple screenshots of the Vikings fan getting pummeled. The first was someone punching him in the head while he was lying on the asphalt, and the other is of a fan wearing a Jerry Rice jersey kicking him in the head. They’re blurry, but so was the vertical video which was shot with a mobile phone.
The rest of the stadium and surrounding parking lots might have been 100% peaceful last night, but this is the story that people who weren’t there will remember from a fan experience standpoint. On one hand, it’d be nice if people weren’t idiots. However, Cosio’s point about a lack of SCPD presence could’ve had something to do with this situation escalating the way it did. Either way, a few rotten apples are once again spoiling things for everyone else, at least from a national perception standpoint.
