On Saturday, April 9th, one Pirate fan decided to get a little too belligerent and the PNC Park staff had to deal with him. Apparently, he was a little too drunk and was causing problems for fans around him. The PNC Park staff then asked him to leave, which he then refused to do for a while. This is the point where the Pittsburgh Police Department got involved, because that is what the PNC staff is trained to do. In another video taking from the fan's section, the police asked him to leave many times, and he refused, so the police told him he could go the easy way or the hard way, and now we know he chose the hard way.
As the belligerent fan made his way from the section in left field, he then struck a PNC Park staff member with his fore arm, and this is where things went south. The police then felt threatened because of his violence, so they shot him with a taser gun. The taser ended up having no effect on the man, so that is when the police pulled out their batons and hit him about six times as he refused to cooperate. The police finally got control of the situation and put him in hand cuffs and took him away.
Many people are in an uproar over how the police reacted. Many of these people believe the police used excessive force, and did not need to do what they did. My stance on the subject is that the police handled it correctly. The man deserved what he received. First, he refused to leave his section after being told by PNC Park staff and police, and he refused. Second, the police told him he could go the easy or hard way, and he continued to give them trouble, so he chose the hard way. Third, all of the fans in the left-field section were chanting him on, which just fired him up more. Fourth, I am pretty sure he did himself in when he decided to strike a PNC Park employee with his fore arm, you are not allowed to do that. Fifth and final point is this; by law it is illegal to resist arrest. So, in the police officer's mind; the man was way too drunk, he was refusing to cooperate, the fans were chanting him on, and then he got violent. The Pittsburgh Police had to do what they could to take control of the situation at hand, so they did. The man had a choice and he chose to conduct himself in the wrong way. Somehow, I was able to go to the same game and not cause a problem to my section and enjoy some good baseball without getting arrested. He had his chance.
As a sport manager, this is not a good situation. You want to portray your ball park having a fun and friendly atmosphere, and these types of instances hurt your image. I feel like the Pittsburgh Pirates handled this the right way by issuing a team statement that helped to cool the situation. The Pirates basically said that their staff conducted themselves the right way and handled the situation correctly to ensure a fan-friendly atmosphere. All in all, this man had a choice and he chose to act the way he did, so I feel like the PNC Park staff, the Pittsburgh Police, and the Pittsburgh Pirates handled this situation correctly and hopefully it can be avoided in the future.
From the looks of the video it looks like the police did brutally attack the man. However, it was his own fauly for resisting arrest and acting like an idiot. I see nothing wrong with how the police officers acted. They are trained to protect and serve, and with this man at the park noone around him was safe so they had to step in.
ReplyDeleteThe video was pretty crazy with the guy getting tased a couple of times and pulling out the tasers. There is no place for that kind of act from fans at any venue. There are families and children who are going to these games and they see these immature people making stupid descisions. Great work by the staff and the Pittsburgh Police they did nothing wrong but what they are trained to do.
ReplyDeletei think that the fan had no excise acting that way and the police reacted very reasonably.
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