Two Violent Assaults at Last Week’s Browns Game, Including One That Left a Man in the ICU

Can Browns fans stop acting like drunken, violent jackwagons at home games already?

Case in point, two tales from last week.

A 28-year-old Toledo man was left with severe bleeding on his brain and in critical condition at MetroHealth after someone sucker punched him in the head outside of FirstEnergy Stadium following Sunday’s game. In an interview with Cleveland.com, the man’s father said his son had approached a man who was throwing traffic cones at people to tell him to knock it off before the assault, during which he was left unconscious after his head slammed against the concrete. He’s since been moved out of the ICU as the brain bleeding stopped, his father told Cleveland.com. The assailant has yet to be identified or arrested.

That same day, according to Fox 8, a Wooster woman was sucker punched in a bathroom at the stadium and was left with a concussion and facial injuries. A friend told the station the victim was standing at a sink when the unidentified suspect charged out of a stall and punched her. Apparently, the suspect was in a stall with a man and another woman, not the victim, had pounded on the door and said there was a man in the women’s bathroom, an act that seems to have somehow prodded the suspect into violence, for some reason.

Police are investigating both incidents and the Browns, in a statement to Fox 8, said, “The safety of everyone in and around our stadium is a primary focus for our team throughout the year. We were made aware of the situation on gameday as our security team promptly responded, and we have and will continue to work closely with CDP to help gather all pertinent details regarding the investigation.”

Sure, one might argue, these are isolated incidents, aberrations in an otherwise safe affair that gathers tens of thousands of fans together. The Browns have an average paid attendance of 67,431 for home games this year, and even discounting folks who don’t show up, and those who waltz in for kickoff and hightail it out by halftime, we’re still talking about two incidents (that we know of) caused by just two of those 60,000 or so fans.

The other argument, of course, is that this happens all the time, here and in stadiums and parking lots around the country, maybe not to the degree that necessitates an ICU visit, but often fueled by overconsumption and inebriation, and in every instance despicable, disgusting and unnecessary. 

This article appears in Nov 7-13, 2018.