49ers Fan Dies After Falling from Walkway During Season Opener
A fan fell to his death from an elevated pedestrian walkway at Candlestick Park during the San Francisco 49ers' season opener.
Police revealed that the incident occurred about 1:30 p.m. with several witnesses stating that the man looked to be intoxicated before he fell.
San Francisco police spokesman Gordon Shyy said off-duty medics and police officers gave the man first aid until an ambulance arrived, but the man was pronounced dead from his injuries.
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Authorities said the man was thought to be in his 30s, and his name has not been released pending family notification.
In a statement, 49ers spokesman Bob Lange confirmed the team had learned of the accident outside the stadium.
"We would like to express our deepest condolences to the family during this difficult time," he said in an email.
It was not clear how far the man fell from the Jamestown walkway, which goes around the outside of Candlestick, but authorities will continue the investigation Monday.
Candlestick Park, the iconic sports complex will be torn down and replaced by a shopping center next year. Next season the 49ers will move into a $1.2 billion stadium at the team's Silicon Valley headquarters in Santa Clara.
Since 2003, there have been more than two dozen cases of fans falling at stadiums across the United States, according to the Institute for the Study of Sports Incidents.
Most recently in Atlanta, baseball fan Ronald Lee Homer Jr. died last month after falling 85 feet following a tumble over Turner Field's fourth-level railing. Homer's death was the third at an Atlanta stadium in the past year.
"At this time there's no indication of foul play and the fall appears accidental," John Chafee, a police spokesperson, told the New York Daily News. "It appears he fell from an upper-level platform to a secured lot below."
He did not die at the scene, but succumbed to his injuries while at Atlanta Medical Center.
