Subject:  Re: Geoff defending some Det. Pistons fans |
Author:
Chris
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 11/23/04 8:13am
In reply to:
Chris
's message, "Re: Geoff defending some Det. Pistons fans" on 11/23/04 8:09am
Might not be Geoff's case, but just being represented by Weglarz at his firm. I don't think it matters in the least that a fan started the brawl. Not when you take into consideration that there is security that could have taken care of the situation (not the players) and that the players were quite obviously extreme in their reaction. The fans will win their cases, and my best guess is it will be a settlement, and probably a fast one since the NBA was so fast to suspend their players.
VICTIMS? SUSPECT? Prosecutor identifies fan who started brawl
November 23, 2004
BY BEN SCHMITT and FRANK WITSIL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
The fan who threw a plastic cup at Indiana Pacers player Ron Artest, sparking last week's melee at the Palace of Auburn Hills, was identified Monday as a 39-year-old West Bloomfield man with a criminal past. But another fan who threw a courtside chair hasn't been identified, and authorities said he could face more serious charges.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Let us know what you think about banning alcohol at games
Should Detroit sports teams ban alcohol sales at games? Go to http://freep.typepad.com/ comments/2004/11/ should_teams_ba.html or E-mail your response to letters@freepress.com. Please put PISTONS in the memo field and include your name, where you live and a daytime telephone number where you can be reached. Here is a sampling of letters we received Monday.
Culprit?
John Green, 39, of West Bloomfield: Prosecutors say he threw a blue plastic cup at Indiana Pacer Ron Artest, sparking Friday night's brawl. He denies it. He and others could face misdemeanor charges.
Victims?
William Paulson, 26, of Grand Blanc: Says Pacer forward Stephen Jackson sucker-punched him. He plans to sue the Pacers and maybe the Palace.
John Ackerman, 67, of St. Clair: Says he was knocked unconscious by a thrown chair. Plans to sue Pacers and maybe the Palace.
Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca said John Green, a self-employed building contractor and one of his former neighbors, had been identified from videotape as the fan who sparked the Friday night fight, one of the worst brawls in professional sports history. Green denied any wrongdoing.
As of late Monday, nine people had filed assault complaints with police. Two men -- one who said he was punched by Pacers forward Stephen Jackson and another who said he was knocked unconscious by a flying chair -- said they plan to sue the Indiana Pacers and possibly the Palace of Auburn Hills. Two other men and a woman also were said to be talking to lawyers about filing lawsuits.
Since the brawl, authorities have scoured over videotape and still photos and interviewed people who attended the game. Gorcyca said Monday that videotape helped them identify Green.
Gorcyca said Green was a Pistons season ticket holder and now has been barred from the Palace. Green's attorney, Shawn Patrick Smith, denied he has been barred.
Green has several criminal convictions, including felony assault with intent to do great bodily harm and three drunken driving convictions, according to Gorcyca and Department of Corrections records. Green was not supposed to drink alcohol as a condition of his probation, Gorcyca said.
Coincidentally, the prosecutor and Green used to be neighbors in Royal Oak during the early 1990s. "When I first saw him, it struck me as odd that I recognized him," Gorcyca said of the video.
Green told reporters that it may have looked like he threw the cup, but he didn't.
"I wish the whole thing didn't happen," he said. "I'm sure the NBA players that got involved in it wish it never happened, the fans never had wished that it had happened, I know I don't. It was awful, it was ugly."
But Green's attorney, Smith, said his client was trying to pull the Pacers' Artest off someone -- and was trying to defend the people around him. He said it was a "cheap shot" to bring up Green's prior convictions and he is disturbed that prosecutors are outing his client before charging him.
Smith conceded that the video might speak for itself.
"They're holding back on some of the video right now," he said. "If my client is the person throwing the cup, that's it. You can't argue with the video."
Auburn Hills police said Monday that their investigation does not stop with Green.
Detectives are asking the public to help identify another man who they say was caught on tape flinging a chair through the air. The chair, police said, hit a police officer -- and several other people. Authorities said they expected to release a photograph today of the man taken from the videotape.
It is unclear who threw the chair. The padded, folding chairs next to the court at the Palace are locked together, said Tom Wilson, president of the Palace of Auburn Hills. "You've got to be Superman to get that chair out of there."
Gorcyca said that charges will not be filed this week -- but they are likely. Players, fans and team staff could face assault and battery charges, a 93-day misdemeanor. The person who threw the chair, however, could face felony assault charges, which could include jail time.
One of the men who allegedly was hit by the chair, John Ackerman Jr., said Monday he plans to sue the Indiana Pacers -- and possibly the Palace. Palace officials did not return phone calls Monday.
When he looks at the video of the final minute of Friday night's basketball game, Ackerman said he can only recall the chair knocking him unconscious.
"When I saw myself go down like a ton of bricks -- I just feel lucky to be here," said Ackerman, a 67-year-old retired Ford employee. "I had to find out about it by watching videos on ESPN. I watched myself get knocked out."
William Paulson remembers talking to his friend Mike Ryan, looking up and seeing Pacers forward Artest charging into the stands at them. Artest started pummeling Ryan, Paulson said.
"It's horribly scary to be in that situation," said Paulson, whose family has had the same Pistons seats for 25 years.
Paulson said Pacers forward Stephen Jackson sucker-punched him.
"I was trying to get away and he's still holding me," Paulson said. "It was scary; you're just trying to get away at all costs."
The two men announced lawsuits against three Pacers players: Artest, Jackson and Jermaine O'Neal on Monday, during a news conference at attorney Geoffrey Fieger's office in Southfield.
Their attorney, Todd Weglarz, said they also are considering suing the Palace for not having enough security to stop the fracas. The lawsuit that Weglarz said will be filed today does not name specific monetary damages. "
"This case is nothing more than a sheer, brutal assault and battery committed on fans," he said. "These two fans were doing nothing but trying to enjoy a basketball game."
Weglarz said the office also plans to represent at least two men and a woman, who were not yet identified, in litigation related to the incident.
Asked whether Paulson, 26, of Grand Blanc, doused Artest with a beverage when Artest attacked his friend, Paulson declined comment. Video replays show Paulson, a season ticket holder, tossing a drink at the player during the attack.
Weglarz said: "The video speaks for itself."
O'Neal punched Ackerman just before Ackerman was struck by the chair, Weglarz said, adding that he has five witnesses to support the claim.
Ackerman, a St. Clair resident, was sitting near the Pacers' player exit aisle. He said he turned away when the fight appeared to be over. When he turned back toward the players, he was knocked out, waking up in a wheelchair and heading toward the Palace infirmary.
Ackerman and Paulson suffered concussions, Weglarz said.
The brouhaha began when Artest fouled Ben Wallace in the back during a lay-up attempt. Wallace retaliated by shoving Artest's face with both hands before players and coaches intervened.
While Wallace shouted and threw a wristband at Artest, Artest laid down on a television broadcast table with his hands behind his head.
A fan, identified as Green, then threw a plastic cup with a beverage at Artest. The 6-foot-7 player, weighing 246 pounds, then charged into the stands. Jackson followed and craziness ensued.
Paulson said Green had sneaked into the lower section and was moving from seat to seat.
"The gentleman who threw the initial beer was not a part of our company and had no right to be there," said Paulson, a real estate agent. "It's a shame that he came down there. He was jockeying from seat to seat. He was annoying the whole game."
"This is, in certain respects, more complicated than a murder -- you have so many fans and eyewitnesses that need to be interviewed," Gorcyca said "I don't want people to say that all we did is charge players and a few fans."
Pacers Chief Executive Officer Donnie Walsh called the brawl at the end of Friday night's game at Detroit a low point in pro sports and apologized for the team during a news conference.
Pacers Coach Rick Carlisle said the lengths of the suspensions were a "very tough pill to swallow."
"It is a very, very tough penalty," Carlisle said. "It is tougher than ... most people expected."
But that hasn't stopped the Pacers from saying they can be a contender in the Eastern Conference. They lost to the Pistons in last season's conference finals.
Gorcyca said the recent incidents are much different than an alleged assault at the Palace during the NBA championship playoffs last year.
In that incident, Lakers forward Karl Malone allegedly poked a fan, Happy Asker, of Southfield, who supposedly spit in the player's face.
At the time, Gorcyca said that this was a "case of felonious stupidity" and would be "a waste of prosecutorial and police resources." However, the recent incident, Gorcyca said, involved players who physically assaulted fans.
Auburn Hills police said Monday that nine people have come forward to file assault complaints. There were no reports of broken fingers or jaws and most of the injuries were minor, police said.
Auburn Hills Police Chief Doreen Olko said that investigators could not retrieve the cup that was thrown -- and it was unclear how many people were involved, or what role alcohol played in the fight. So far, she said, several fans and a few players have been interviewed. Artest was not interviewed.
She also made an appeal to the man who allegedly threw the chair: "We are asking that person to come forward since it is only a matter of time that we will find you."
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 