Charges being pursued for UM fan who slapped OSU player on Saturday

Submitted by Blueblood2991 on

A fan is said to have slapped or grabbed an Oregon State player as he was going into the tunnel on Saturday.  University police are now working with prosecutors to get authorization for an arrest.

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/09/16/um-fan-got-the-big-…

I'm just curious if any of the bloggers witnessed this in person and could share some more details of what happened.

MGoBoard

CalJr3000

September 16th, 2015 at 6:57 PM ^

 

FWIW, from the comments of the MLive story:

"It happened right in front of where I was sitting and the fan did indeed knock the helmet off of the OS player as he was exiting the field.  It was more of an alcohol fueled stupid decision than something violent or angry. The fan was escorted out without any trouble or resistance. MLive must be looking for something to report on - this is lame."

Joined: 07/21/2008

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ElBictors

September 16th, 2015 at 6:58 PM ^

We were in the S endzone at Utah right above the M locker room and a few Utah fans around us were yelling "Fuck you Harbaugh!" and "Harbaugh, you suck!" Not so sure if possible one of their fans might not have done more if they could. And I realize screaming obscenities is different than physical contact but seriously, opposing teams in Oakland have AA batteries thrown at them coming out of the tunnel.

Joined: 03/27/2015

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Stu Daco

September 16th, 2015 at 7:03 PM ^

I realize this was a very stupid thing to do, but does every problem has to be solved with criminal charges?  Why not just ban the guy from the stadium and move on?  This doesn't seem like it warrants the expense and time of a prosecution.

Joined: 08/23/2015

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Stu Daco

September 16th, 2015 at 7:21 PM ^

The fact that someone can be charged doesn't mean he should be charged.  The guy got a little too drunk and slapped a player's helmet.  Ban him from the stadium, make him apologize, and call it a day.  It's not worth further clogging the court docket.

Joined: 08/23/2015

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McSomething

September 16th, 2015 at 7:04 PM ^

C'mon people. We are not Buckeye fans. We are not Sparty fans. We damn sure are not Penn State fans. We are supposed to be way better than this. We are supposed to say that even at our worst we don't stoop to the lows of other fanbases. Well here we are, that no longer applies. Get that asshole outta here.

Joined: 09/29/2010

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ElBictors

September 16th, 2015 at 7:40 PM ^

Maybe this fan should apologize to the player and OSU fans and be done with it. You know, not the chickenshit route of 'pressing assault charges' for knocking the helmet off the top of a guy's head walking by. Lord knows prosecutors have nothing better to do than come after this fan. Jeez, some of you folks are uptight as hell. The only post in the thread that isn't 100% unfounded speculation is the Comment from the fan who WITNESSED it and said it was a dumb drunk kid and not assault or anger. Let the kid apologize and see if the OSU player is big enough to accept and forgive. Good God. Everything is such a big fucking deal these days LOL

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True Blue Grit

September 16th, 2015 at 7:17 PM ^

It's entirely possible that the person who did this did not intend to make contact with the OSU player in a belligerent manner.  Maybe he was an Oregon St. fan or maybe he was just some sort of fringe college football fan who wants to be closer to the players involved, and this was his way of expressing that.  If so, he should not be condemned. The facts here are very vague and it's possible that his intentions have been misrepresented.

Joined: 01/21/2011

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Gr1mlock

September 16th, 2015 at 7:20 PM ^

Sigh.  Apparantly we need to add "Don't assault opposing players" to the dos and don'ts of fandom.  Does that go before or after "Don't tweet recruits"?

Joined: 12/24/2013

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Everyone Murders

September 16th, 2015 at 7:30 PM ^

The headline says the guy was tossed for "Slapping or Grabbing" the OSU player.  This could mean virtually anything.

It could be that the guy slapped the OSU player's helmet hard with intent to injure - in that case, throw the book at him.

It could be that he grabbed the player's shoulder pad to say something to him - in that case, ban him from the stadium for the season and be done with him.  (It's not cool to do that, even if you're telling the guy "nice game", but Jebus - it's not the "player safety" issue that smacking someone on the head is.)

It could be that he was pushed into the player, grabbed him to keep from falling, and security tossed him to prevent a situation from escalating. 

Here's the point - by the terms of the article we don't even know whether the player was slapped.  So until we know that, we might want to take a deep breath and let the facts roll in.

Joined: 12/14/2010

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PIJER

September 16th, 2015 at 7:56 PM ^

Charges should be pressed! There is no reason to ever put your hands on a player for any reason. Football is a very mentally charged sport. If the player loses his shit and hits the fan after the initial incident, the player loses the chance to play and likely their scholarship.

Joined: 07/12/2009

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