At a preliminary hearing Wednesday for two suspects accused of beating San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium last year, prosecutors played a recording of a 911 call made just after the incident.
A preliminary hearing for two suspects accused in the beating resumed Wednesday at a downtown criminal courtroom of the Los Angeles Superior Court after three days of proceedings last week.
"He was punched from the side. He didn't see it coming," said Stow's friend Corey Maciel in the 911 call.
Stow, a Santa Cruz paramedic and father of two children, is still in therapy after suffering severe brain trauma. Prosecutors allege he was jumped by two Dodgers fans – Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood -- after a March 31, 2011 game.
Witnesses thus far have not been able to make a positive identification of the pair, but last week prosecutors played a recording of a jailhouse phone call in which Norwood told his mother that he was "to a certain extent" involved in the beating.
The call played in court Wednesday was made by a female witness who transferred her cell phone to Maciel, a fellow paramedic who attended the game with Stow.
"He's got snoring respirations at the moment, bleeding out of his left ear, no response to painful stimuli. We need an ambulance right now," Maciel said.
Sports
"It was a Dodgers fan in Dodgers jersey. There's no way to identify him. If I saw him, I could recognize him, but he's gone," Maciel also said.
Maciel, one of a number of witnesses who have testified, was expected to be subject to cross examination Wednesday afternoon. The hearing is to determine whether there is enough evidence for Norwood and Sanchez to stand trial.
The pair are charged with one felony count each of mayhem, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury, along with the allegation that the two inflicted great bodily injury on Stow.
Sanchez is also charged with a misdemeanor count of battery involving a run-in with a female Giants fan and a misdemeanor battery count for allegedly swinging his fist at a young man in a group of Giants fans in the parking lot after the game.
Stow fell back after the attack, hitting his head on the concrete.
Stow is currently "unable to walk, has loss of motor skills in his arms and hands, is unable to carry on a normal conversation, unable to control his bodily functions, and unable to care for himself due to diffuse, severe, traumatic brain injury,'' according to a stipulation signed by attorneys from both sides and read in court.
