When I wrote this week of the ugliness between USC and UCLA fans whenever the two teams tee it up each year in Los Angeles, I never fathomed what happened tonight before the game at the Rose Bowl.
(Credit)
More details continue to bleed out following a massive melee reportedly involving up to 75 people outside the Rose Bowl before the USC-UCLA game.
An unnamed Pasadena Police Officer reported to CBS 2 in Los Angeles Sunday evening that the dispute, which left one officer with a broken hand, included a man who was stabbed in the face while another man was stabbed “multiple times in the back.”
CBS 2’s Suzanne Marques (video report link) reported an eyewitness claiming that the dispute started after participants in a pickup football game outside the Rose Bowl apparently got too close to a parked vehicle.
That led to a heated verbal exchange which escalated into several fights.
Three men allegedly involved in the conflict are being held on charges of attempted murder, with accompanying $1 million bail.
Meanwhile, LOS ANGELES TIMES has more details on the cause of the melee and the identity and condition of the victims:
Friends said a man identified as Vimal Patel, 24, was in the intensive-care unit at Huntington Memorial Hospital. Joshua Dirling, 27, was stabbed in the cheek and a knife tip was embedded in his cheekbone, but he is expected to recover, relatives said.
The two were part of a group of about 15 or 20 people who had been drinking and cooking-out since 6:30 in the morning. The group they ended up brawling with had also been there drinking since the morning, witnesses said.
Patel, a student at Cal State Fullerton, was tossing a football with a friend when the ball accidentally hit a black Mercedes-Benz belonging to someone in the other group, according to his friend Martin Keeley.
That’s what allegedly touched off the free for all, according to a friend of Patel.
Keeley said he jumped in to defend his friend.
“I grabbed the first guy I could and wrestled him to the ground,” he said, the shirt he was wearing still torn and stained with blood hours later as he waited for news of his friend at the hospital.
Matthew Dirling, 27, said his twin brother was stabbed in the cheek during the fray.
“We were in the middle of it and my brother got popped in the face,” said Matthew Dirling, 27. “We were having a good time and this broke out.”
There were fans from both schools in their group, they said, and the fight appeared to be sparked by an angry reaction to a misthrown football, not college rivalry.
So one man was stabbed in the face and another was stabbed to the extent that he’s in intensive care because a football hit a car?
Somehow I’m thinking there could be more to this story.
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12:14 am on December 5th, 2010
As a TCU fan traveling from DFW, guess I’ll be packing on this trip….
1:21 am on December 5th, 2010
In this day and age, yes, all it takes is a misthrown football when two groups of drunk guys in their 20s are involved.
2:00 am on December 5th, 2010
Dude, it’s been a few hours and nothing new on Cam Newton? Come on Brooks, you’re letter us down. I heard Spurrier is in on the conspiracy (Slive apparently offered $2 million for Carolina to roll over and die!!).
4:06 am on December 5th, 2010
Kole, please do not let this color your trip to the Rose Bowl. First of all the Rose Bowl is situated in one of the wealthiest and oldest communities in Southern California. It is certainly not the Coliseum down in South Central. Also the biggest problem was the fact that the game (between city rivals) was played at 7:30pm when the lots opened at 6:00am. 13.5 hours of drinking between hostile groups will bring those results. USC, UCLA, The Rose Bowl and Fox Sports are all to blame. The game never should have been played that late. In 20+ years of having gone to that game it has never been that late. And 12+ hours of tailgating & drinking should never have been allowed, especially for a rivalry game.
6:25 am on December 5th, 2010
slpry pete, to suggest in any way that ANYONE was to blame other than these idiots is inconceivable. It is a tragety. But this behavior is owned by the idiots that wield the knives, not the TV, the school or the beer companies.
8:10 am on December 5th, 2010
What does it matter that it is in one of the wealthiest parts of town? Are you saying there is no violent crime there? Probably more than you want to admit.
It doesn’t shock me that it happened in that general area. I just kind of nodded my head when I discovered who was playing. “Ahhhh, LA area. Go figure.”
8:13 am on December 5th, 2010
By the way. Night games happen all of the time. I’ve seen confrontations inside and out of the stadium.
So far, plenty of booze but no weapons involved. Guess we handle things more civally than people in California.
8:17 am on December 5th, 2010
Slpry Pete, sounds like the wealthy are just a bunch of rich “thugs” with knives. As for the countless hours of tailgating, at LSU, about 90% of our games began at 7 or 8 pm and tailgating usually starts that Friday…if not Thursday. I have yet to hear of an incident such as this.
12:11 pm on December 5th, 2010
Stevo5 who are you to make stupid comments/ questions when you don’t live in the Pasadena area or California for that matter? Slpry.Pete’s comment was right on. Did you even read the article and notice where the participants were from? The kid that was stabbed is from Cal State Fullerton which is in Orange County about 40 miles from Pasadena. I guess nothing happens in your state. Thats too bad! Fight on! Literally in this case!
12:17 pm on December 5th, 2010
sounds typical when alcohol starts at 630am just a bunch of idiots c’mon man anyway what year was the mercedes was it worth fighting over? and is the driver one of the ones being held for attempted murder or are those idiots friends of his?
12:18 pm on December 5th, 2010
Wealthy LA = shiney 9mm’s
Ghetto South = -pointy sticks, inbred daughters
12:20 pm on December 5th, 2010
RichPeopeSteal, LOL! You can’t even spell your name correctly. I am fairly certain that you don’t have anywhere close to the media frenzy people and paparrazzi that hangs out here in LA and listens to the police scanners and take videos. No reason to do that in LA since nobody of any significant importance lives in your lovely gulf state. If they were borm there and wanted to make a mark on the world for them to be known, they got the heck out the state. They might keep a home there, ala Brittney Spears, but she wouldn’t LIVE there. She lives down the street in Calabasas…. also in California! It happens at LSU, just no one really cares enough to make it newsworthy!
1:04 pm on December 5th, 2010
@Kole, don’t worry, the Wisconsinites will leave you alone, we just want to enjoy the warm weather and drink beer in the early morning. By the way, please have the Horned Frogs bring their “A” game, we would hate to have the BCS be right about TCU and BSU.
Enjoy the game!
12:14 am on December 6th, 2010
Hilarious, Mercedes, bunch of bros, some who don’t even go to either school? Schools playing for nothing? lol, Pasadena doesn’t want this type of crap so forget about having an NFL team there, why are they trying to renovate the Rose Bowl anyway?
1:34 am on December 6th, 2010
There is always someone looking for trouble and someone looking to give it to them.
9:32 am on December 6th, 2010
55
10:23 am on December 6th, 2010
With the Raiders leaving. Raider fan needs soeone to root for. So they have traded there Raider hats in for USC and Dodger gear.
10:29 am on December 6th, 2010
People from California are just absolute idiots and yes this could have very well been simply over a misthrown football with these dummies. I live in Las Vegas and this place has be ruined because these cretins have moved here in vast numbers and they ain’t the so-called “laid back” surfer types. I doubt the laid back type exists anymore in California, I have never seen one.
6:37 pm on December 6th, 2010
Lord have mercy on us all…………too many idiots. And by the way, doesn’t matter where you live. People don’t respect other human beings like they used too. Very sad.
11:32 am on December 7th, 2010
F that chump with a knife… Step into the ring/octogon and Fight you pussss!!!! Was 1st car in line tailgating at 1am the night before with no major problems. Live & Die in LA, its the place to be…
4:27 pm on December 7th, 2010
I agree with Robert, a large portion of the people that now live in California are complete idiots! They are destroying the state and are an embarrassment to us original Californians. Its time to move!
9:59 pm on December 7th, 2010
This kind of stuff doesn’t happen in the SEC…
10:54 pm on December 7th, 2010
I agree that this should have no bearing on somebody;s trip to the Rose Bowl game. The game has never been marred by this type of stupidity. Actually, the suspects that have been arrested are named Cisneros. 2 brothers and their sister. Looks to me like another example of beaners behaving badly. They seem to do it a lot.
10:17 am on December 9th, 2010
Some reckless fans, turned to be cruel people, or even criminals coz some of them charged of murder attempt. Those are so far from the spirit of sports!