Fan dies after falling from upper deck at Turner Field
A fan who fell from the upper deck at Turner Field during Saturday's game between the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves died shortly after being transported to a local hospital, police confirmed.
A witness said the man was leaning over the railing of the fourth deck during the top of the seventh inning and suddenly tumbled over the edge, plummeting more than 40 feet before landing between the second and third row of seats on the first level, reports Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The fan, believed to be in his 60s, appeared to make contact with the wires connected to the protective netting behind the home plate as he fell.
“That's really sad, that something like that can happen at a ballpark,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “Our prayers go out to the family. It's really sad.
The incident prompted a hurried response from more than a half-dozen medical personnel, who performed CPR on the fan before shuttling him away from the blood-spattered area on a stretcher. By the time the fan was taken away, most of the spectators sitting in that section had been cleared from the area.
"Huge condolences out to that family," Braves pitcher Matt Wisler told MLB.com's Mark Bowman. "That's terrible. You never want to hear something like that. We were all in the dugout paying more attention to that than the game when it first happened. It's terribly sad to hear. We really hope for the best for that family. It's sad to see something tragic like that happen at a game."
The incident took place in front of 49,243 fans, the biggest crowd to pour into Turner Field this season. Moments before the fan fell, Alex Rodriguez was summoned to pinch-hit for Yankees starter Luis Severino.
“We were sitting in Row 6 and I just told him to watch for A-Rod," Greg Shiver, a Tennessee native who attended the game with his son, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "And then we heard a big thud. I saw a guy falling from the top. I grabbed my son and ran for security. He was bleeding pretty badly. I don't think he's gonna make it. And I don't have any clue how he fell.”
Saturday's terrifying ordeal occurred just over two years after Ronald Lee Homer Jr., a 30-year-old Georgia native, fell 85 feet to his death from the fourth deck at Turner Field in what was ruled a suicide by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.