Death at Shea (split from Bring Out)

[seawolf17]

Antonio Nararainsami, 36, at Shea on Tuesday.

[Guest AG/DC]

Well, that's fucking awful.

I'm bumping this to the baseball forum.

[seawolf17]

I was going to put it here, but I wasn't sure if it was baseball. I guess it is.

[soupcan]

Dead guy's family's story is that he was just walking down the escalator, lost his footing and fell over the side.

Police are speculating that he was sliding down the rubber railing and lost his balance.

I'm tending towards the the cops theory on this.

[metirish]

Terrible that this happened.

From the Snooze

]He was not intoxicated or engaging in horseplay when he fell, police and family members said.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

That's scary. When I was a kid I remember a story of a depressed guy whose psychiatrist recommended he go to a baseball game as a means of cheering up. He leapt from the Upper Deck onto the sidewalk to his death. Does anyone remember this story?

I find it hard to believe a guy could trip and fall off those stairs, unless he was 9 feet tall.

[Guest AG/DC]

A lot eaiser to trip and fall going down than going up, as you're moving in the drection of the lowering wall. If he was moving quickly, I guess I can see it.

Be certain that Jeff is meeitng with HOK right NOW!!! to discuss design modifications at Shea II.

[Gwreck]

I too find it hard to believe that you could go over the side by just "losing your footing." I'm guessing some combination of alcohol/horseplay had to be involved. Of course, if not, it remains a horrible tragedy.

[Guest themetfairy]

I'm a total klutz, and an overprotective mom to boot. Even so, I can't see anyone falling over the railing unless he was running or otherwise goofing around. The cynic/lawyer in me doesn't want to see the guy's family suing the Mets over something that doesn't seem as if it could have possibly been their fault.

Nonetheless, it's tragic for someone to lose his life that way (and with his kids present!).

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

I was at a minor league game in New Britian, CT back in 1987, and a guy was sitting atop a waist-high chain-link fence that ran along the top of the bleachers along the first base side (Bee Hive Field was a glorified high school field.)

Any way, the guy, who had been drinking, fell backward and down to the pavement.

My buddy Rich and I were walking to the concession stand at the time, and he landed about 30 feet from us. I'll never forget the sound of his head hitting the pavement -- almost like a plastic cup full of soda.

Rich went over to the guy, and I went screaming hysterically for help. The guy died the next day.

Gives me the creeps just thinking about it. Ick.

[seawolf17]

Hey, I'll be at a game in New Britain tomorrow. I'll stay away from the fence.

We were at a Ducks game a few years back when a guy leaned out of his suite to reach for a shirt from the T-shirt gun, fell out, and cracked his head open on the railing about 25 feet away from us. It's an image that will be with me forever... my wife still has to hide her eyes when they bring out the T-shirt gun; she can't watch it.

[DocTee]

Similar event happened in the last years of Candlestick, where the escalators were pitched at an absurd angle.

[Guest AG/DC]

So, in the Shea passings file, I remember a similar fall in 1986 (a college kid, I think) and a guy killed by a model airplane in the mid seventites at a Jets game.

I've certainly pulled some apart some fights where it looked like someone was going to die. I don't understand those bleacher brawls. If I'm going bare knucks with somebody, I'd rather a flat surface than a 45% rake.

[Farmer Ted]

I remember Bucket's story. It was the day before, or maybe two days before, an early 80's banner day twinbill with the Cubs. I went to that banner day having read about it in the paper.

[soupcan]

="AG/DC"]So, in the Shea passings file, I remember a similar fall in 1986 (a college kid, I think)

Good memory Edgy.

New York Post:

TRAGEDY AT SHEA
By ERIN CALABRESE and PERRY CHIARAMONTE


April 16, 2008 --
A Mets fan leaving the game last night lost his balance while descending an escalator at Shea Stadium and plummeted two stories to his death - as his two young daughters watched in horror, authorities said.

Antonio Narainasami, 36, of Brooklyn, was with several other relatives on a family outing, when the tragedy took place around 10 p.m. in Section A near left field.

At home was the fan's wife, who is pregnant with their third child.

The victim, a Guyanese native, who lived in Cypress Hills and worked in air conditioning repair and installation, was taken to New York Hospital Queens, where he was pronounced dead.

His cousin, Kevin Prashad, who was there, said Narainasami had been walking down the escalator, which was turned off.

"He lost his footing somehow and then he went over the railing," said Prashad, 28.

"He had his kids with him - they were walking right behind him.

"We saw his whole body go over the side. There's no explanation for what happened there. It's like a nightmare."

But one police source said authorities are looking into the possibility the victim may have been sliding on the rubber railing.

"We were just on a night out to Shea Stadium - we're all diehard Mets fans, the whole family," Prashad said.

Added Vinnie Narainasami, another cousin:

"He was one of the best guys I've ever known," noting Narainasami was "really excited" about the game because "it's his favorite team."

That cousin said Narainasami was a team captain in the Legend Cricket Club.

"We have been advised of a tragic accident that resulted in the death of a fan attending tonight's game," said a statement from the Mets.

"The Mets, the City Parks Department and the New York Police Department are investigating the incident. Our deepest and heartfelt condolences go out to the fan's family."

The game celebrated Jackie Robinson Day, the 61st anniversary of the Brooklyn Dodger great breaking the major league color barrier.

In New York, two other fans have died at baseball games - both of them were sitting on the railings of escalators.

In May 1985, Mark Leddy, 21, of Yonkers, fell 100 feet off an escalator at Shea.

And in April 1999, a 37-year-old man fell more than 90 feet to his death at Yankee Stadium.

Such accidents, however, are a rarity at ballparks - one 2003 study published in the baseball journal "Nine" reported about 35 deaths from 1900 to 2000.

Additional reporting by Cathy Burke, Larry Celona and Mark Hale

[HahnSolo]

As a fellow dad of two youngins, I don't believe he would have been horsing around and setting a bad precedent for the kids. But that's me.

I remember the mid 80s death to the point that I always walk down the ramps when leaving Shea.

Also, I always wondered about the escalators, both at Shea and in the Garden. Why did they only go up? Couldn't they reverse them for after the game?

[soupcan]

HahnSolo wrote: Also, I always wondered about the escalators, both at Shea and in the Garden. Why did they only go up? Couldn't they reverse them for after the game?

Ironically, its a safety issue. Avoids pile-ups at the bottom when so many people are exiting at the same time.

[Gwreck]

soupcan wrote: Ironically, its a safety issue. Avoids pile-ups at the bottom when so many people are exiting at the same time.

Really? The escalators at Giants Stadium go down after the game just fine. No problems there.

[soupcan]

Gwreck wrote: ="soupcan"]Ironically, its a safety issue. Avoids pile-ups at the bottom when so many people are exiting at the same time. Really? The escalators at Giants Stadium go down after the game just fine. No problems there.

I think the difference is that at Giants Stadium its just one escalator with a large space at the bottom to walk away as opposed to series' of connected escalators at the Garden and Shea.

Does that make sense?

[Guest AG/DC]

New Jersey may have different safety guidelines than New York.

[Fman99]

Mrs. Fman99 and I went on a cruise to Bermuda for our honeymoon. At one of the ports of call an elderly gentlemen from our ship fell down an escalator. We could hear him yelling from where we were, up two levels. I do not know ultimately what happened to him.

Shudder.

[Gwreck]

soupcan wrote: ="Gwreck"] soupcan wrote: Ironically, its a safety issue. Avoids pile-ups at the bottom when so many people are exiting at the same time. Really? The escalators at Giants Stadium go down after the game just fine. No problems there. I think the difference is that at Giants Stadium its just one escalator with a large space at the bottom to walk away as opposed to series' of connected escalators at the Garden and Shea. Does that make sense?

Yes. Good point (same applies to Edgy's point too).

[G-Fafif]

I seem to recall the 1985 incident was one stemming from screwing around.

I've walked down the halted escalators from the upper deck and mezzanine a couple of times. I stopped doing it because it gave me vertigo.

There are no good ways to go, but what a lousy way for this guy to go.

[Guest Grote15]

Didn't M. Donald Grant die at Shea..its was his tomb for quite awhile.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Except for the rare few who are buried alive, not many people die in their own tombs.

[Guest AG/DC]

There's a ghost following the Mets around this season.

Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - A 25-year old baseball fan died following a fall from the upper deck at Turner Field on Wednesday, according to WSB Radio in Atlanta.

Justin Hayes of Cumming, Georgia fell from the upper deck concourse to the field level concourse behind home plate during the eighth inning of the Braves contest versus the New York Mets.

Hayes was rushed to Grady Hospital in Atlanta after the fall, where he was pronounced dead.

"I don't know if he was playing on the banister or if he was messing around on the banister, but he slipped and fell about 150 feet down," Atlanta police spokesman Ronald Campbell told the radio station.

An autopsy will be performed to determine if alcohol played a role in the accident.

[HahnSolo]

Yes officer, it really is important to distinguish whether the deceased was "playing on" or "messing around on" the escalator.

[Guest AG/DC]

Deja vu:

Man falls from escalator at Shea

By Jon Blau / MLB.com

NEW YORK -- A man was seriously injured after falling more than 25 feet off a Shea Stadium escalator on Saturday night, the Mets announced, and was taken to an area hospital.

According to media reports, the 26-year-old man dropped from the box seating level and to the ground floor near Gate D and was taken to the hospital in an unconscious state. A Mets spokesman said the police and the club are investigating the incident.

In April, Antonio Nararainsami, 36, died after falling two stories from an escalator in the left-field section of the stadium. A 21-year-old man from Yonkers, N.Y., fell 100 feet to his death at Shea in 1985.

Jon Blau is an associate reporter for

MLB.com

. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

[Guest AG/DC]

Newsday wrote: A St. Louis man who fell 25 feet from an escalator at Shea Stadium remained in a surgical intensive care unit yesterday, officials said. Justin Larson, 26, fell from the box-seat level to the floor near Gate D at around 10 p.m. Saturday as the Mets played against the St. Louis Cardinals. The unconscious Larson was taken to New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens in Flushing in critical condition. News reports quoted an unnamed friend of Larson's, who said that Larson was joking around shortly before he fell, hopping on a broken escalator and sliding down its handrail.

[Benjamin Grimm]

A visiting Cardinals fan was recently killed by a drunk driver just after leaving a Phillies-Cardinals game at Citizens Bank Park. Two women visiting from the St. Louis area were struck by the car; one was killed and the other was seriously wounded. Last I heard there were doubts that she'd ever walk again.