Broken Bat Leaves Fan in Critical Condition

06 Jun, 2015

A fan whose head was bloodied by a broken bat that flew into the stands at Fenway Park was in the hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said.

The game between the Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox was halted in the middle of the second inning Friday as emergency crews tended to the woman and wheeled her off the field on a stretcher.

Oakland’s Brett Lawrie broke his bat on a groundout to second base for the second out of the inning and part of it hurtled into the stands. Boston police spokesman David Estrada confirmed the woman was seriously injured.

She was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Hospital in Boston. Hospital spokeswoman Kelly Lawman said she was still gathering information regarding the woman’s condition and identity and hoped to have more information later Saturday.

Boston police spokeswoman Officer Rachel McGuire said she had no new information Saturday morning on the woman’s condition.

Alex Merlis, of Brookline, Massachusetts, said he was sitting in the row behind the woman when the broken bat flew into the seats just a few rows from the field between home plate and the third base dugout.

“It was violent,” he said of the impact to her forehead and top of her head. “She bled a lot. A lot. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that.”

Merlis said the woman had been sitting with a small child and a man. After she was injured, the man was tending to her and other people were trying to console the distraught child, he said.

“You try to keep her in your thoughts and, hopefully, everything’s all right and try to get back to the task at hand,” Lawrie said when asked how he was able to refocus after what happened. “Hopefully everything’s OK and she’s doing all right.

AP

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