A male fan was knocked unconscious after falling 21 feet in a stairwell while leaving Rangers Ballpark on 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 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 a hospital. There was some blood in the area where the man fell.
"At this point in time, hopefully it's going to be better than what we thought when he left," Mason said.
The Rangers said in a statement after their 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 that he attended the game with.
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Mason and other Arlington police officials were still on the scene nearly 2½ 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.
Rangers spokesman John Blake said the team had no other information. Team president Nolan Ryan was aware of the accident.
Multiple fans have fallen at Rangers Ballpark. Most recently, 39-year-old Brownwood firefighter Lt. Shannon Stone, fell after reaching to get a ball that was tossed into the stands by Rangers left fielder Josh Hamilton in the second inning. Stone later died.
Nearly a year earlier, a fan at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington fell 30 feet from the second deck of seats down the first base side while trying to catch a foul ball.
Tyler Morris, a firefighter, sustained a fractured skull and sprained ankle in the July 6, 2010, fall.
Morris told reporters as he left the hospital last year that he did not blame the Rangers or the ballpark, saying his fall was an accident that "could have happened to anybody."
