ARLINGTON — A male fan was knocked unconscious after falling 21 feet in a stairwell while leaving Rangers Ballpark Saturday night in what police were investigating as an accident.
Police Lt. Bobby Mason said early Sunday that investigators were still trying to determine exactly how the 24-year-old man fell while leaving the stadium.
The stairwell, near the home plate gate and out of sight from the field, consists of a series of flights of steps leading from the upper deck of seats to ground level.
"It doesn't appear that there's any foul play that's involved," Mason said after talking to people who were in the man's group and other witnesses. "There wasn't any fighting or anything like that going on."
Mason said his understanding was that the man's condition was improving after being transported to Methodist Dallas Medical Center.
Witnesses said the man had a serious head injury.
"I saw more blood there than I've seen at any point in my life," said Ryan Bailey, 23. He and a friend, Kevin Harkness, were leaving the stadium when they heard the man hit the pavement, followed by screams.
"The first thing I remember hearing was a thud," Bailey said. "The next thing we knew it was pandemonium there."
"There were three girls standing from where he did fall from, just looking over the railing in silence," harkness added. "It was pretty difficult to look at."
The Rangers said in a statement after the team's 8-4 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night that the team was monitoring reports of the man's condition.
The injured fan got immediate attention at the stadium after falling about 9:45 p.m. and was then taken to a local hospital, the team said.
The accident occurred before the end of the game, so the stairwell wasn't yet crowded with fans, Mason said. The man was with a group of people with whom he attended the game.
Mason and other Arlington police officials were still at the scene nearly 2 1/2 hours after the game ended.
"What we can say for sure is, for whatever reason, he falls from the railing area up there between the third and second landing, and he fell 21 feet," Mason said.
As of Sunday evening, authorities had not released the victim's name or his condition. It's the fourth time a fan has tipped over a railing at the Ballpark.
On July 7, Brownwood firefighter Shannon Stone, 39, died less than an hour after tumbling over a railing and falling about 20 feet to concrete behind the left field wall. He had reached out to catch a baseball tossed his way during a game.
Twelve days after his death, the Rangers announced it would raise all the railings in the stadium to 42 inches, above waist level. Currently, the rails vary in height between 30 and 33 inches, but all are above the federal building code of 26 inches.
Work on the new railings will likely begin after this season ends. The team is still unsure if the railings can be modified or need to be replaced.
"We’re going to do this right," Rangers spokesman John Blake said Sunday. "It’s a time-consuming project."
He added the team only plans on changing the railings in the seating areas, not on the stairwells.
"We don’t know the circumstances of (Saturday) night," Blake said. "I think it’s a little premature."
WFAA reporter Jonathan Betz and Associated Press writer Stephen Hawkins contributed to this report.
