New Details Revealed On Fan Attack At Dodger Stadium

(CNS) – Court papers filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office offer grisly details about the Opening Day attack on San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow.

The criminal complaint filed against suspects Louie Sanchez, 29, and Marvin Norwood, 30, allege that the suspects “did cut and disable the tongue, and put out an eye and slit (Stow’s) nose, ear and lip,” district attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons told the Los Angeles Times.

The complaint also alleges that the attack “caused Bryan Stow to become comatose due to brain injury and to suffer paralysis,” the Times reported.

Sanchez and Norwood, both of Rialto, are charged with mayhem, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury, all felonies, in connection with the brutal beating outside Dodger Stadium. Louie Sanchez also was charged with two misdemeanor counts of battery stemming from a separate incident the same day.

Both suspects were arrested Thursday and are being held at the Los Angeles Police Department’s downtown lockup in lieu of $500,000 bail for each.

They are scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Los Angeles.

A woman arrested as an alleged accessory — identified as 31-year-old Dorene Virginia Sanchez, and believed to be the sister of Louie Sanchez and the wife or girlfriend of Norwood — was released Friday on $50,000 bail and faces a court appearance in Los Angeles on Aug. 19, according to Los Angeles County Jail records.

Louie Sanchez faces a maximum of nine years in prison, while Norwood faces up to eight years behind bars, according to prosecutors.

The complaint also says the attack “caused Bryan Stow to become comatose due to brain injury and to suffer paralysis,” the Times reported.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, both men have been charged with mayhem, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury, all felonies. Louie Sanchez was also charged with two misdemeanor counts of battery stemming from a separate incident the same day.

Norwood, according to the arrest records, stands 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 250 pounds, roughly matching the description witnesses gave police of one of the attackers. Louie Sanchez was listed as 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing 175 pounds, which closely matches a description given by witnesses.

A woman arrested as an alleged accessory — identified as 31-year-old Dorene Virginia Sanchez, and believed to be the sister of Louie Sanchez and the wife or girlfriend of Norwood — was released Friday on $50,000 bail and faces a court appearance in downtown Los Angeles on Aug. 19, according to L.A. County Jail records.

Louie Sanchez faces a maximum of nine years in prison, while Norwood faces up to eight years behind bars, according to prosecutors. “From the very beginning of this tragic incident, the Los Angeles Police Department has exhausted each and every avenue of interest in search of the perpetrators of this crime,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. “The Bryan Stow case has been given paramount attention, and I am proud of the job our detectives have done — the men and women of this department have done — to pursue every lead and utilize every single resource at their disposal. “Today, thanks to thousands, literally thousands of hours of investigative work and the hard work of an elite, competent group of investigators we can announce the arrests of suspects in this case. The process has worked.”

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said Giovanni Ramirez, 31, who was arrested May 22 and called a suspect in the March 31 attack, had no connection to the attack. “I want to tell the world, Giovanni Ramirez is no longer a suspect in this case,” Beck said. “In policing it is just as important to exonerate the innocent as it is to implicate the guilty.” Beck said the initial evidence and identifications that led to Ramirez’s arrest were refuted by an investigation involving dozens of detectives working seven days a week, over thousands of hours. The group investigated more than 850 clues and interviewed more than 600 people. “Information comes as it comes,” Beck said. “These cases work as they work. Unfortunately, in this case, it took a long amount of time to establish information that exonerated Mr. Ramirez, but that information led us to the arrest of these three individuals and have resulted in criminal filings.”

As the case against Ramirez unraveled, LAPD detectives returned to clues and tips from the public, and detectives noticed that several people who had been sitting in the same section at Dodger Stadium during the Opening Day game had reported seeing two aggressive and belligerent “jerks,” the Times reported.

Detectives interviewed the people, narrowed down the area and were able to use ticket sales records to put together a list of possible suspects, the Times reported.

Stow, a 42-year-old Santa Cruz paramedic and a father of two, suffered brain injuries in the assault by two men who police say the left the scene in a vehicle driven by a woman. He remains hospitalized at San Francisco General Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery Monday after suffering a seizure resulting from a build-up of fluid in his head.

Stow showed positive signs of improvement Friday, opening his eyes on command and mouthing his last name, according to his family.

Police said Stow was attacked solely because he was wearing Giants apparel. His attackers and the female getaway driver were wearing Dodgers gear.