Giants and Dodgers fans set aside rivalry after attack, drop off donations

A slow, but steady stream of drivers made their way to Dodger Stadium on Monday as part of a drive-thru fundraiser for Bryan Stow, the Giants fan who was severely beaten in a stadium parking lot on opening day.

Santa Monica resident Victoria Caldwell, 40, a bookkeeper for an entertainment accounting firm, said she saw news of the fund drive on morning television and came down with her miniature pinscher, Minnie.

A Dodger fan since childhood, she said she was shocked by the violence but believed it was important "to stick together and show our commitment" by helping with Stow's healthcare costs. She said she believed the March 31 attack was an isolated incident.

Stow, wearing Giants apparel, was in the stadium parking lot after the game when two young men began taunting him. According to police, one of the men blindsided him with blows to the back and head. Both men repeatedly kicked and punched Stow on the ground before fleeing in a car driven by a woman. Police said it appeared a 10-year-old boy was also in the car.

Stow suffered a fractured skull and damage to his frontal lobe. He remained in critical condition Monday in a medically induced coma at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. He is undergoing further testing, but no improvement has been reported since his admission, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Brothers Matt and Noah Glazer bicycled in from their home in Highland Park with a check. Noah, 27, a production assistant, tugging on the brim of his Lakers cap, said he worried that a police crackdown with uncertain standards in the wake of the Stow beating would squelch the normal fun-loving rivalry between the two California National League teams.

"I have a lot of friends in the Bay Area. I go to games in San Francisco and heckling is part of the game," Noah Glazer said. "That doesn't mean I'm going to stab someone in the parking lot."

At the same time he said he hoped that participating in the benefit would help stop the violence from escalating to the point where security would become overwhelming. "Hopefully some goodwill comes of it and some of the fringe element learns regular fans aren't going to tolerate it," he said.

Patrick Odell, 38, of West Los Angeles, a "die-hard Dodgers fan" arrived in his Dodgers' Hawaiian shirt. "Hearing what happened just killed me," the paralegal at a downtown law firm said. "I don't think that's what Dodger fans are about. "

Already, he said his friends were saying there's no way they'd bring their kids to Dodger Stadium, which he said he believed was wrongheaded. He came with a check to show "it wasn't real baseball fans who were responsible. It was people who came apparently for no reason but to savagely attack someone."

Andrea Murphy, 33, a Giants fan, said her heart went out to Stow, his family and fellow Giants fans.

Murphy, an aspiring real estate agent from Modesto now living in Santa Monica, she said she had attended Dodgers games in Giants regalia, most recently a preseason game where she wore a black  Giants shirt, with no trepidation. But she worried the Stow beating would make the rivalry turn ugly.

"Let's hopefully never let this happen again," she said. "It's so sad that something like this would happen at a baseball game of all places."

Giants and Dodgers players also planned Monday night to take part in a pregame ceremony when the teams face off again at AT&T Park in San Francisco. The ceremony will honor Stow and "encourage civility in the rivalry," Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch said.

The money collected Monday will go to a trust fund established by Stow's mother at the San Francisco Police Credit Union, and will benefit him and his two children.

The drive was scheduled to end at 3 p.m. Checks should be made out to the "Bryan Stow Fund."

RELATED:

Drivers line up at Dodger Stadium to drop off money for beating victim Bryan Stow

-- Gale Holland at Dodger Stadium

Photo: Dino Leasure, with Kodi, chats with paramedics after driving into Dodger Stadium on Monday afternoon to drop off a donation, one of many drivers who contributed cash and checks for a relief fund for paramedic Bryan Stow, the Giants fan who was severely beaten on opening day. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[no]

"He didn't deserve it" ???????

As if there might be some circumstances under which a Giants fan WOULD deserve a beating?? Christ almighty do you freaks ever pause to THINK before opening your mouths?

Pathetic, and not surprising in the least. The players are professional thugs, so it makes perfect sense that their fans are, too.

[DerailAmnesty.com]

I agree w/ Joe Poe. This city has gotten ghetto and a lot of it has to do w/ failure to enforce immigration and employment laws.

[Some Guy]

Protip for visiting fans at Dodger stadium: Avoid the pavilion sections.

[Lucas]

Hey Joe Poe I am a proud Resident of City Terrace, and more importantly a FireFighter for LA County, on my street and surrounding streets we the people take pride in our community and if you have not traveled our way recently your missing out on the clean streets and availability to walk once again during the nights. Bad elements will always be available in every city, but if the community as a whole don't come together then you have no one to blame but yourself.

[Apple1]

"Giants and Dodgers players also planned Monday night to take part in a pregame ceremony when the teams face off again at AT&T Park in San Francisco. The ceremony will honor Stow and "encourage civility in the rivalry," Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch said.”

This is good, but… Have any players donated to the fund for Stow and his children? How have they shown their support of the family, or Mr. Stow? Notes? Cards? Flowers? A ceremony - big deal. Over in five minutes and it inconveniences no one. It’s a nice gesture, but largely meaningless. Where was Mr. McCort today? It would have been classy for him to show up and donate.

[times reader]

There are 4 scumbags who did this ( or know about this ), just give the reward money to the one who comes forward. No prosecution for the one who talks.

[Mark]

Let us not forget the incident at the Rose Bowl last December. It is no longer fun going to the games to cheer my favorite teams. Yes...it was an isolated incident however it is becoming a reflection of our society. Go Dodgers. Go Trojans.

[T]

the undercover cops in giant gear would solve this problem in a week. Brilliant idea.

[Emily]

Hi Joe Poe. I'm a high school teacher in Pacoima. Today in class, while beginning our Holocaust unit, we discussed how the Jews were treated as scapegoats for Germany's post-WWI problems. We talked about how ridiculous it is to blame a society's problems on one racial group. Ironic, huh?

Racism and bias is everywhere, as your comments clearly demonstrate. Individual people cause individual problems, no matter what color their skin is. Was this violence an atrocity? Absolutely. But making blanket remarks about a racial group is hateful and ignorant. If you want society to improve, do something besides stirring up hostility.

For the record--I'm proud to teach in Pacoima, and I'm proud of my students. And I won't let anyone devalue them because of the color of their skin.

[James Banks]

Let's see how long this feel-good cease fire last!

[DP]

My Hats off to Dodgers Fans. I'm a long time Giants Fan and it is a class move to see the fans in Blue pitching in to help Bryan Stow.
Thank You

[YT]

Until McCourt is gone . . . BOYCOTT the Dodgers.

[frankie]

you have to ask yourself just what do the police do,how many police on or off duty were at the game just what do they do.does any one think that more police are going to make it any safer.how many people will they beat,how many people will they ticket because they dont like the way they look.LA has the most dangerous gang in the world THE POLICE.some day you will wake up and see that the police are not here for you or your safety.it is all ways about the money.your money.I hope that poor man gets better.

[mediocre]

No MLB players should chew tobacco. Kids see it and it is monkey see, monkey do. A chewer should be picked before each game to have him pull down his lip to show the skeleton teeth and roots and to show the lesions. Do chewers spit when their bodies urge them to get rid of some of the nicotine and other cancer causing chemicals or do they spit each time whatever they are chewing on has a big "C" in their mouth?

[Mike Hesner]

I'm in North Carolina does anyone know the address where I can send check to the "Bryan Stow Fund." ??????