Yankees fan beaten unconscious at Orioles game

[alp227]

If you thought the Bryan Stow case was bad enough, this is even MORE unbelievable:

Matt Fortese came 75 miles from Hagerstown to meet Taylor Queen at Camden Yards. She drove more than three hours from Virginia. Their second date was going well, Queen said, until an hour of taunting from two fans boiled over into an altercation that left Fortese fighting for his life.

Fortese, a lifelong Yankees fan who wore his team's cap to Wednesday's game, suffered severe head trauma and a skull fracture. He was listed in serious condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center Saturday. Police said they had arrested two men in the incident.

At the hospital, Fortese's family and Queen recounted the ordeal — and a chance encounter with a childhood friend who they said helped save the 25-year-old man's life.

By the fifth or sixth inning of the matchup with the Washington Nationals, the couple had endured about an hour of heckling, mostly about Fortese's hat, from two men sitting a section above them, said Queen, 21. Then one of the men threw a beer that hit the couple, according to police, and when Fortese approached the men and began arguing with them, one punched him in the head.

The blow sent Fortese over a railing and onto the concrete about five feet below.

Two men — Gregory Fleischman, 22, of Jarrettsville, and Michael Bell, 21, of Annapolis — were charged in the attack.

Police said Fleischman punched Fortese.

But luckily Fortese ran into an old friend at the game, and that friend saved Fortese's life:

Nathan Steelman, an off-duty state trooper and a childhood friend of Fortese's from Hagerstown, was standing nearby in the left field seats. Steelman and Fortese hadn't seen each other in years but had run into one another at the game and had spoken for about five minutes to catch up.

"You just heard it," Steelman, 26, said Friday of the commotion. "I rushed over, and I realized it was Matt. He wasn't breathing. He was unconscious. Blood was coming from his nose."

He said Fortese had gone as long as 45 seconds without breathing. Steelman, relying on basic emergency medical training he received as a soldier deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, stuck his finger in Fortese's mouth and removed a wad of chewing tobacco that had blocked his airway. Fortese drew a breath.

Sadly this is what people are willing to do to others over rival sports teams.

[Warpy]

1. Yeah, just add some Instant Asshole (alcohol)

and this stuff gets violent fast. Too many men just can't handle their beer without getting belligerent.

[Bluzmann57]

13. And women can handle their beer....

Believe me, I've seen some women go batshit crazy while being drunk, just as I've seen men. So stop generalizing please.

[Warpy]

16. You're right, but women are more likely

to become sloppy and weepy alternating with loud and obnoxious.

Drunks of either sex are lousy to deal with.

[Nye Bevan]

22. I'm a guy and I get relaxed, mellow, then sleepy.

Too bad this doesn't apply to everyone.

[GeoWilliam750]

39. In vino veritas

[Major Nikon]

33. There's a pretty good chance they were assholes before they ever started drinking

Just sayin'

[shenmue]

2. Good grief

It's a game!

[HERVEPA]

3. Chances of alcohol being involved, about 99%

[elleng]

5. 100%

[elleng]

4. and yankees weren't even playing,

NATIONALS v ORIOLES!

Drunken idiots!

[MineralMan]

6. This is the reason I no longer attend any professional sports

events. The last time I attended, I had a beer poured on my head. I left, and haven't gone back. If I want to watch, I use the TV.

[Katashi_itto]

7. Sorry Mineral, that was me

[MineralMan]

8. I'm pretty sure it wasn't you, somehow.

I was with my wife, and didn't want a confrontation. It was easier to simply leave. For that, I got called a "pussy," too. Nice folks, they were.

[Katashi_itto]

10. Yep, those types of folks are usually the soul of good manners

[Warpy]

26. I got completely out of concert lighting

when a drunk leaned over and puked all over (and in) my shoes. Running a follow spot with an iffy ground was a laugh a minute with squishy shoes.

[FSogol]

31. I go to 15-20 Major League baseball and 2-3 NFL games a year. I've never seen a fight or

had any problem I couldn't just ignore. Stadium security is swift to correct problems. At the Nats Park, you can even text for help if you see something occurring. The problems in football come outside the park during tailgating.

[Major Nikon]

35. I've had the same experience

I take my family to baseball games and don't worry about it. When you get 30,000 people in one small place, shit will happen from time to time. You can be adversely affected by violence anywhere, but that's not a great excuse to stay in your home 24/7.

[cherokeeprogressive]

37. I've been going to Dodger Stadium since I was a child. Never seen a fight.

Not in the stadium or in the parking lot.

The only problem I've had personally was two vatos locos sitting directly behind my Wife and I. I asked them nicely to watch their language as it was offensive to my Wife. It got 10x worse after that. I sent her after the ushers. They came back with LA County Sheriff's Deputies. It was like having a can of "vato be gone".

[Politicalboi]

9. Just think if they all had guns

And no one got hurt because they all feared each had their own gun.


Nah, NEVER happen. They would shoot first and ask question later, maybe.

[olddots]

11. Is this the second time this has happened ?

Thugs at the game and none of the macho scumbag jocks break up the fights ,they seem to like them.

[WilliamPitt]

12. Violence happens all over the country every hour of every day.

50,000 people jammed into stadiums 164 times a year for baseball games alone, and every once in a while there's an incident...statistically speaking, you're safer at an Orioles game than in the home of a gun owner.

Just sayin'. Scapegoating sports is fun, and mostly stupid. Mostly.

[trumad]

14. LOL

I've seen fights in a church.

[WilliamPitt]

15. There was a brawl at a kindergarten graduation in Baltimore the other day.

Go figure.

[madinmaryland]

18. That was in Cleveland...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/spectators-brawl-at-kindergarten-graduation-in-cleveland-police-say-8-arrested/2013/05/31/bdb34f34-ca11-11e2-9cd9-3b9a22a4000a_story.html?hpid=z3

[madinmaryland]

17. Actually you are extremely safe at a Marlins' home game, since there is no one in the

stands to get in a fight with.

-- Sorry, couldn't resist!!

[WilliamPitt]

20. LOL

Thread win.

[superpatriotman]

23. Que?

What are you saying? That no one wants to drive to Little Havana for béisbol?

[Lurker Deluxe]

24. Hey!

As an Astros fan I resent that ... our stadium is just as empty as theirs.

Matter of fact, I bet a friend $20 at the beginning of the year that the 'Stros would not be the worst team in baseball.

Way to go Marlins!!!!

You could very well make me $20 richer by the end of the year!

[Doctor_J]

27. but it's in Miami so all 3800 of them are armed

[madinmaryland]

29. Everyone except trumad.

[GeoWilliam750]

41. I have been following major league baseball for 50 years

Who are the Marlins?

[madinmaryland]

43. The Miami Marlins. NL East. nt

[HughBeaumont]

19. Yet another glaring example of America's unchecked Angry White Guy problem.

Brahs, Rednecks, 40 year old adolescents, bikers, abusers, power drinkers, wannabe hooligans, ferals, early peakers, guys who think they're Stone Cold Steve Austin and unchecked snapcases make America suck.

I don't go to bars. I avoid state fairs. Forget about football games. I hide on Saint Patrick's day. I see one too many of these feral goateed motherfuckers in one place, I just leave. America has an inhuman and ubiquitous love affair with violence and hatred.

I think it's an hour past a "problem" and going into epidemic stage.

Too many short fuses badly in need of repairs.

[RantinRavin]

36. so tell us

have you been a racist your whole life, or something you are working on ?

[HughBeaumont]

44. Sorry, when you hold all the cards, you aren't allowed any more aces.

Get it yet?

[rrneck]

21. Sports as another fundy religion. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

25. Eternal boyhood is the dream of a depressing percentage of American males,

Eternal boyhood is the dream of a depressing percentage of American males, and the locker room is the temple where they worship arrested development. Russell Baker

[FSogol]

30. If someone throws a beer at you at a ball game, the proper thing to do is

call an usher over. They'll eject the drunk assholes in a second. Why argue with them? Let the stadium security handle it.

He's lucky someone was there to initiate first aid. Best wishes for Fortese and family.

[monmouth3]

32. My first thought is...Drink It!....WIN...n/t

[Brickbat]

34. Delete "over rival sports teams" and you've got it.

[1ProudAtheist]

38. Wearing A Yankees Hat

To a game between the Nationals and the Orioles = asking for trouble. Actions.......they DO have consequences.

No, I do not condone such carryings on, but I would be curious to know about how this got escalated to the point of violence. I feel sure that the victim played a part in it somehow. I am reminded of the story told by Ron White about getting "thrown" out of a bar over his wearing of a hat.

[Initech]

40. A similar incident happened at Dodgers Stadium a while back.

This makes me sick that fans would do this.

[Cha]

42. Wow, I hope he's okay! Poor thing.. so glad his old

friend was there to help in his life of death crisis!

thanks alp

[Bombero1956]

45. This shit happens everywhere

The Vet in Philly had Eagle's court, a courtroom built into the stadium where unruly fans were taken for quick judgment and sentencing after committing crimes at both Veterans and Lincoln Financial stadiums. The court forced offenders to give up season tickets, pay a $400 fine and sit in jail for the rest of the game.