A 49ers fan died on Sunday when he fell from an elevated pedestrian walkway at Candlestick Park.
According to a police report, the fan’s death occurred just after kickoff at 1:30 pm. Police spokesman Gordon Shyy (SHY) says off-duty medics and police officers gave the man first aid until an ambulance arrived. The man was declared dead at the scene.
Several witnesses told police that the man appeared to be intoxicated before his fall.
Following the 49er fan’s death, team spokesman Bob Lange released a statement:
“We would like to express our deepest condolences to the family during this difficult time,” he said in an email.
At this time, we don’t know how far the man fell from the Jamestown walkway.
This is the last season for the historic park. Next year the park will be turned into a shopping mall as the 49ers move into a $1.2 billion stadium closer to the team’s Silicon Valley headquarters in Santa Clara.
It wasn’t a good weekend for fan injuries in the NFL. At the Colts’ game against the Raiders, two fans were injured after they leaned against a barrier and it collapsed. That barrier was put in place to separate fans from Oakland’s locker room.
The NFL has witnessed more than two dozen falls since 2003.
The 49ers Fan died just weeks after Atlanta fan Ronald Lee Homer Jr. fell 85 feet to his death at Turner field. Homer Jr. was the third person to die at that stadium over the last fiscal year.
Do you think the NFL and other sports teams need to take better safety precautions at their stadiums?
