Man arrested in connection with assault of San Francisco 49ers fan outside SoFi Stadium, police say
By Josh Campbell and Stella Chan, CNN
A man has been arrested in connection with Sunday’s assault of someone who was wearing a San Francisco 49ers jersey outside the SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles, police said Friday.
News about the arrest came from Inglewood police Lt. Nicole Loudermilk, who gave no other details. More information would be available Friday afternoon, Loudermilk said.
Inglewood police had said a man was assaulted outside the stadium and later placed in a medically induced coma. At the time of the apparent assault, San Francisco was facing off against the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game at the stadium ahead of Super Bowl LVI.
The assaulted man — a resident of Oakland, California — was rushed to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center by paramedics after they received a 911 call around 4 p.m. reporting an injured man in the parking lot, Inglewood police Lt. Geoffrey Meeks told CNN on Wednesday.
“Based on (the paramedic’s) initial medical assessment, they rushed that victim to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for emergency medical care,” Meeks said, where he “quickly underwent surgery.”
Police obtained surveillance video of the assault, Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. told reporters Thursday.
Video shows “it was a very quick altercation,” he said, but the video is blurry and individual faces cannot be distinguished.
After the victim and another man wearing what is believed to be a Rams jersey shove one another, Butts said, the victim is struck by a punch in the face and falls backward to the ground, where paramedics later found him.
Authorities have identified a vehicle that may be associated with the suspected attacker and are working to locate its owner, Butts said.
Police were not initially made aware of the incident, Meeks said Wednesday, but were later called by hospital staff who reported that the victim had “injuries consistent with someone who had been physically assaulted.”
Inglewood detectives were dispatched to the hospital but were unable to interview the victim as he had already been placed in a medically induced coma, Meeks said. Police were told by the attending physician that the man suffered from injuries to the face and upper body, said Meeks.
“Detectives are actively treating this as an assault investigation,” Meeks said.
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CNN’s Topher Gauk-Roger contributed to this report.
