Stunned Philly Fan

A few nights ago in Philadelphia, a young man, perhaps encouraged by his friends or under the influence of too many Budweiser beverages, did something that is both frowned upon but not exactly uncommon.

Wearing his National League Champions Phillies t-shirt and holding what appeared to be a white towel, this young fan made a bad decision by jumping on to the field after the seventh inning and started to run around.

We’ve all seen this before, some drunken buffoon looking for attention or thanks to a dare by his buddies, hops over the fence and goes for a jog. On rare occasions the individual can have his fun and quickly disappear back into the crowd.

I remember attending a Toronto Blue Jays game in the early 90’s when a young man wearing only an athletic support ran on to the Skydome turf, ran over to Outfielder George Bell and then bounded over the low fence back into the crowd. The security people had an idea where he was but by the time they got there the fans were all pointing in different directions to throw them off and the semi-streaker had found his clothes and looked like any other Jays fan.

Such was not the case for the young man on this night in the land of the Philly Cheesesteak. He was quite agile and able to elude the grounds crew and security but there was one police officer who was not going to let him get away.

Luckily for the young man the cop didn’t pull his gun. But unfortunately for this trespassing fan, the cop did remove his taser or stun gun from its holster and took aim on the fleeing individual. With a pull of the trigger the red-shirted law breaker was quickly shocked with electricity, fell to the ground and was subdued by those in pursuit.

So the question that arises is, was this too aggressive on the part of the officer? For years people have made it almost a right of passage to interrupt a game by being an idiot and running on to the field, only to be tackled and hauled away to baseball jail a short time later. Rarely is anyone ever injured.

That isn’t to say injuries haven’t occurred. I recall two tattooed morons attacking a first base coach one time before the entire team came to his rescue. In this day and age, I suppose you never know what people’s intentions are. And it’s likely wise to err on the side of caution.

So, I believe not only was the use of the stun gun not a bad idea but I think if this became the preferred method of dealing with these yahoo’s, they might think twice before acting in such a foolish manner.

I’m quite sure that had the dummy in Philadelphia known what was coming, he might have taken the white towel he was carrying and waved it in the air to surrender before having his convulsive experience.