http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/09/14/pitcher14.TMP&type=universal
A Texas Rangers relief pitcher was arrested after he threw a chair at fan and broke her nose during Monday night's loss to the Oakland Athletics.
Frank Francisco, 25, was booked on suspicion of felony aggravated battery early Tuesday just after the 10-inning game concluded. He left the Coliseum with two officers, booked at the Oakland police station and released an hour later after his teammates posted $15,000 bond, police spokesman Danielle Ashford said.
The incident came after a fan, an unidentified Hayward man seated in a box seat near the Rangers bullpen, was heckling the opposing team's pitching staff, police said. It was the second violent incident involving an Oakland fan and a Texas player in the past two years.
"The heckling had been going on for awhile," Ashford said. "At some point in the ninth inning things came to a head and escalated."
Texas relief pitcher Doug Brocail jumped up and began screaming at a male fan after the two appeared to exchange insults. Stadium security had to restrain several players and bullpen coach Mark Connor from going into the stands.
The right-handed pitching Francisco then heaved a folding chair toward the heckler. The chair struck the man's wife on the face and side of the head.
With blood spurting from her nose and lips, the woman was treated at a local hospital for facial lacerations and a broken nose. Police said the chair apparently clipped two other fans but the woman's head took the brunt of the impact.
Ashford refused to identify the victim but she confirmed she's the wife of the heckler, a Hayward city employee. Security cleared some fans from their lower box seats along the right field line. Ashford said that Oakland Police plan to add extra patrols when the Rangers play again in the Coliseum tonight and Wednesday.
Investigators have a copy of the game videotape and planning to interview fans, stadium employees and other players who witnessed the incident.
Ashford said that police are not rushing to build their charges against the rookie pitcher, promising to"present a through case" to prosecutors possibly later this week.
"We're taking this case very seriously," Ashford said."We're treating this as a violent felony." Major League Baseball also was investigating the incident, which occurred just after the Rangers tied the score in ninth inning. The incident could result in a suspension or fines for Francisco, who was named American League rookie of the month for August.
"We're looking into the matter," MLB spokesman Patrick Courtney said Tuesday."We take matters like this seriously. ... We're just at the beginning stages of looking into it all."
After the game, Rangers manager Buck Showalter criticized Oakland fans, saying they"went over the line.""It was a real break from the normal trash you hear from fans. We've had problems about every time we've come here," Showalter said.
But A's spokesman Jim Young said the fans involved"were not in the wrong in any way." On Tuesday, Texas owner Tom Hicks issued an apology, criticizing the players' actions."On behalf of the Texas Rangers, I want to apologize for the conduct of some members of our club last night in Oakland," Hicks said in a statement."Their behavior, especially the injury to a fan, was unacceptable. Even in a difficult or abusive environment, players should never be provoked into such actions."
The fracas at Monday's game, which the A's won 7-6, is the most recent incident involving baseball fans at the Coliseum.Ê In April of last year, a Palo Alto man was arrested after he allegedly threw a cell phone from the outfield stands that struck Rangers outfielder Carl Everett during an A's game.
Also last year, an Oakland man was arrested for setting off an M-100 firecracker that injured an 8-year-old boy, and in a separate incident a Martinez man was arrested for biting the pinky finger of an Oakland police officer who had tried to break up a fight.
Chronicle wire services contributed to this report.
E-mail Jim Zamora at jzamora@sfchronicle.com
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/09/14/pitcher14.TMP
Well someone either just ended their career in baseball or is going to be playing a long time to pay out the civil/criminal suit settlement. You sir are a class act.
No comments:
Post a Comment