Man thrown over side of bridge at SoFi Stadium speaks out
The man who was thrown over the side of a bridge outside of SoFi Stadium is speaking out after he suffered serious injuries during the incident.
Wild footage from outside the stadium in Inglewood shows two men shoving each other after a showdown between the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs on Nov. 20. Witnesses say the brawl occurred after things got crowded when all of the fans leaving the game began to cross the bridge near Rivers Lake.
"Something caused everyone to kind of move to the right hand side," said Austin Willenbring, the fan who was thrown over the bridge. "That's where I feel, whatever happened to the guy — something happened to him — unfortunately he mistaken for me for doing something to him, I had my hands on my sister, never talked to the guy."
After a couple seconds of scuffling, the other man can be seen grabbing Willenbring and pulling him towards the railing before lifting him over the side and pushing him onto the elevated stairs below.
Willenbring suffered broken ribs, a concussion and considerable bruising as a result of the fall. Even so, he and his sister were able to track the assailant down. While confronting him, they spotted a group of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies, demanding his arrest.
"He threw my brother over the f—ing wall!," Willenbring's sister can be heard shouting in the video.
Despite presenting those deputies with both the video and potential witnesses, there is no record that the man was ever arrested for his involvement in the altercation.
"I just want an adequate investigation by Inglewood," Willenbring said. "I really hope SoFi would take under account safety protocols. Maybe different routes to get out of there or better crowd control, having more security.
A San Diego native and longtime Chargers fan, Willenbring is now planning on canceling his season ticket membership because he doesn't feel safe at SoFi Stadium.
"Protecting people who come and enjoy the events would be very smart to take a look at."
Inglewood Mayor James Butts said that despite the unfortunate incident and the fact that violence is never an excuse, SoFi is a safe spot for fans to enjoy a game.
"Here's the reality: When you have hundreds of thousands of people in one place, when you have alcohol involved, you're gonna have fights," he said. "It's an unfortunate fact of life. We have to put things in perspective, six million patrons in three years, three altercations."
Inglewood Police Department investigators maintained that they were still looking into the incident.
