Video captures violent brawl before USC-UCLA game at Rose Bowl

 

Portions of a brawl before Saturday's UCLA-USC game were caught on tape by witnesses. Cellphone-camera footage, obtained by KTLA News, shows fans shoving and pushing -- and also appears to show one man holding a knife.

Two men were taken to the hospital with stab wounds. One remained in intensive care as of Sunday evening.

The fight started about 4:30 p.m. in parking Lot 1 on the north side of the Rose Bowl, where dozens of people had been tailgating and drinking since 6:30 a.m. in advance of the game that evening.

Police called to the scene found 50 to 75 people fighting, said Cmdr. Darryl Qualls of the Pasadena Police Department. It took more than 15 minutes to break up the brawl, and two officers suffered minor injuries, Qualls said.

Witnesses said the fight broke out after a group of tailgaters threw a football that accidentally hit a black Mercedes-Benz belonging to another group of fans that also had been partying for hours.

Matthew Dirling, brother to Joshua Dirling, who was wounded in the fight, said a doctor at Huntington Memorial Hospital told him the tip of a knife was embedded in his brother's cheekbone and that it would be left there until doctors saw how the wound healed.

Police arrested Arturo Cisneros, 44, on suspicion of attempted murder. Joshua Elder, 23, and Steve Radu, 27, were arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.

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-- Shelby Grad

Comments

[Ruby Jackson]

Meth and alcohol. Not a good combination.

[Bill]

It sounds like that parking lot needs some kind of security patrol, private or Pasadena police. --- Same goes for the days prior to the Rose Parade.

[Jim Townes]

I don't know if anyone has been to a college game lately but there is a ridiculous amount of alcohol consumed before these games.
It seems hard to control the amount of alcohol consumed unless you are going to ban alcohol completely (but you could ban kegs). So if you are going to allow crazy amounts of alcohol to be consumed then they need to provide security to prevent this type of thing from happening.

[Eric of Reseda]

And THIS is why we should keep marijuana illegal...(Wait! What? It was alcohol again?) Nevermind.

[LVR3]

Another example where these universities should not wait until the evening to start a football game. What happen to the good old days when games started at 12:30. Stuff like this should be look at as a factor

[greg6363]

The schools don't dictate the start time. It's the TV/cable networks that set the kickoff time. Money talks.

[j]

Number of people fighting who actually attend or attended USC or UCLA... zero

[LPB]

AT the stadium in San Diego, it's illegal to throw any sort of sports ball or implement in the parking lot during the tailgating session.

Here's one reason why...

[Jim]

This is really sad to see people getting hurt over a sporting event. I really don't understand what this world has come to when everything you see on TV is negative or the media is negative.
I hope they pay for their crime!!

[KenD]

You stay classy, L.A.

[Al]

How many of these people are actual graduates of either USC or UCLA?

[Eddie]

Just saw the complete video! these reporters need to do a better job of getting the facts right! the footage of the fight taking place at night was taken by a friend of mine and that was sc "fan" on sc "fan" violence! I was there and witnessed those idiots going at it with each other!

[Sunny Smoothe]

I don't see what the big deal is. Let me get this right... a bunch of drunk people got into fights? Is that anything new? I see it every weekend whether it's in Downtown Fullerton, Hermosa Beach, or in Hollywood, any time alcohol is consumed there will be brawls!

What I find hilarious in this day and time, everyone has a You Tube account and cell phones that record video. Why in the world would you get into a fight in public knowing full well someone will be recording and posting it online?

[Steve]

What a bunch of jerks. Was there no security there? I have friends who regularly park there before games. No monitoring of alcohol consumption. Don't know how one poster says that, "Number of people fighting who actually attend or attended USC or UCLA... zero" since that has not been reported and virtually impossible to confirm. How said, with all of the problems we have, that people value a ball game as something worth fighting, or even killing, for. I'm going to guess that everyone arrested will use the defense of a 4 year-old: "They started it!"

[FrmrCaliGrl]

I don't know what the current security situation is, but several years ago when I last attended a game at the Rose Bowl "security" was provided by "Event Staff"-- you know the folks in the yellow windbreakers. These people are barely paid above minimum wage--certainly not enough to risk one's well-being by breaking up a fight. Also, their back up at the RoseBowl was provided by the Pasadena PD who seemed hardly staffed or equipped to handle this type of behavior. In contast, the Coliseum had the LAPD out in full-force during USC games.

[James Banks]

This is one of the reasons why we don't have an NFL team here. Don't blame them either.

[Josh]

Another reason I'm glad I don't live in L.A. anymore.

[Dereck]

Shame on the Rose Bowl Operating Co., and the city of Pasadena, for being so greedy to make money by opening general parking lots more than 12 hours before the kick-off of the USC/UCLA crosstown rivalry football game at the Rose Bowl. RBOC General Manager Darryl Dunn should accept responsibility and immediately resign. Those who were injured in the fight should retain lawyers, and I hope they sue the heck out of the RBOC and the city of Pasadena since they were completely negligent. Large crowds hours before such a heated rivalry, with no prohibition of alcohol consumption outside the Rose Bowl, was a recipe for disaster. The Pasadena Police Department should augment its special events policing with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to ensure better crowd control. Part of the blame also lies with USC Public Safety and UCLA police officers who are supposed to augment the Pasadena PD at a USC/UCLA event at the Rose Bowl. Let this be a lesson for those attending events in Pasadena that the city has been lucky up to now that large crowds have not posed a serious threat. That streak is now over, and one wonders what future events at the Rose Bowl may resemble.

[sleuth]

dereck, very well said. too bad you aren't in charge of any one of those inept organizations you named. isn't it uncharacteristic of any police department in or around los angeles to keep a low profile? it's usually just the opposite...they bring 6 cars, 10 officers, and a helicopter if you turn right on red without a complete stop. anyway...this does seem rather deliberate. as if they wanted it to get outta control. what are the politics between these groups and their willingness to work together. were the pasadena fuzz just standing back to watch the usc/ucla police fumble? or were they all standing back so these subhumans could just go ahead and take each other out? anyway, you definitely sound like the voice of reason.