300-pound man crushes fan at Shea

[Dope Nose]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-lifall0412,0,400189.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

BY ZACHARY DOWDY
[email protected]

April 11, 2007, 10:20 PM EDT

Ellen Massey always counted being struck by a baseball or a bat at Shea Stadium among the hazards of being a Mets fan, but she never thought a 300-pound man would come crashing down the stands -- and onto her.

That's what the Manhattan resident, 58, said happened on Monday, Opening Day at Shea.

Shortly after the seventh-inning stretch, she said, a man dressed in a green Army-type jacket tumbled from higher seats and onto her back, knocking the wind out of her and, ultimately, causing serious injury.

"I only know he came flying," Massey, 58, said Wednesday from her bed in Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. "I was literally not able to breathe for about half-a-minute or so. The first thing I was aware of was not being able to breathe, and then when I was able to breathe I was aware of the pain in my lower back."

Massey, who is a lawyer, is scheduled for surgery on a vertebra on Friday. After she was injured, she said, she was attended to by two emergency medical technicians who were in the stands watching the game, and then by Shea's own medics, who stabilized her head and neck area and took her to a local hospital.

She was transferred to Jacobi on Wednesday.

A Mets spokesman declined to comment Wednesday night.

Massey's nephew, Peter Rubens, 35, of Brooklyn, said the first sign that something was amiss was a splash of beer flying onto her at about 4 p.m., then a bump from the man, who is unidentified.

"We were sitting and watching the ball game," he said. "And in a split-second a rather large person, a man, came sort of tumbling down upon us and basically landed on my aunt's head and neck."

Rubens said he couldn't make out distinguishing features of the man, who got up quickly and left. The nephew said he was most concerned at the moment about his aunt, who had begun gesturing that she couldn't breathe.

Going to Opening Day at Shea has become a family tradition for him and his relatives, a ritual dating back two decades, Rubens said.

Massey, who said she goes to six or seven games a season, said she started going to the opener with family two years ago.

"I have to say that in going to a baseball park, the only fear that has ever entered my mind is that I'd get hit by a hard ball," she said.

"I didn't expect a 300-pound human missile to hit me in the back. That doesn't come up on my list of fears."

 

[The Spawn]

*Only in America can you find a 300 lb man.

 

[Mee]

*snicker*

 

[black_dust]

Fat man was after the hotdog dude i bet

 

[Immortalfire]

Crazy!

*Only in America can you find a 300 lb man.

 

[Kritish]

*Only in America can you find a 300 lb man.

Ever heard of Sumo wrestlers?

 

[tzarinna]

Those nose bleed seats are scary to sit in. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.

 

[Halcohol]

I'm disappointed that the fat guy lost control of his beer before he hit her... If I was a 300 lb guy, I'd save that beer like it was my baby.

 

[Honey Vibe]

So what did he do, slip or something?

 

[Sun_Down]

*Only in America can you find a 300 lb man.

Bull****. Go take a gander at the 200 million obese Chinese and I'm sure you'll find a 300-pounder or two.

 

[Honey Vibe]

Bull****. Go take a gander at the 200 million obese Chinese and I'm sure you'll find a 300-pounder or two.

Really?
I actually hail from the same misinformation as The Spawn. We always think Americans are astronomically fatter than any other region.

 

[Halcohol]

Really?
I actually hail from the same misinformation as The Spawn. We always think Americans are astronomically fatter than any other region.

I think it's just that the percentage of Americans who are "morbidly obese" is far higher than in any other nation. Sure, China's got fat people, but probably a smaller fraction of them are ridiculously fat.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

****ing Yankee fans need to stay out of Shea.

 

[TNC9852002]

He couldn't have weighed 300lbs if he got up and ran away that quickly...

They couldn't identify him but he was definitely 300lbs?....Hmmmm

-TNC

 

[Sloth7d]

And this is how you know its a slow day for the news.

 

[cass]

I'm surprised someone hasn't made a Cracker Jack joke, yet.

 

[Babs Gordon]

Go for it...

 

[Showtime]

So wait a minute...this guy fell from the balcony...got up and just walked away. I need to gain some weight and start leaping from trees.

 

[redmarvel]

I suspect he wasn't actually 300 lbs (someone that heavy would have a lot of difficulty getting up and walking away quickly). After all, they don't know who the man was, so it's probably an accidental exaggeration on the part of Ms. Massey.

 

[The Spawn]

I was kidding...hence the "*"

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

Lol.