Only one security guard was able to intervene when a Vikings fan was kicked and punched by multiple 49ers fans on Monday.
Jeff Gross / Getty Images
A video of multiple San Francisco 49ers fans assaulting a Minnesota Vikings fan on the ground outside the 49ers' Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Monday night went viral this week after a 49ers fan posted it to his Facebook account.
In the video, 49ers fans are seen kicking and punching a defenseless man in a Vikings jersey as the crowd around them screams at them to stop.
The primary agitator is a man in a Jerry Rice jersey who follows the Vikings fan as he tries to crawl away from the attack. Another man wearing a Patrick Willis jersey and a small woman in a NaVorro Bowman jersey also follow and attack the man as he tries to get away.
"The 49ers won! What the hell is wrong with you guys?" a man off-camera can be heard yelling at the people kicking and punching the Vikings fan.
A lone security guard, an employee of Landmark Event Staffing, is seen defusing the situation and manages to hold off the 49ers fans long enough for the Vikings fan to get away.
Warning: Graphic video.
In a statement released Tuesday, the 49ers called the incident "disturbing."
"The 49ers and our public safety partners have a steadfast commitment to ensuring a safe and enjoyable experience for all visitors to Levi's Stadium and unacceptable behavior such as this will not be tolerated," the team said.
On Wednesday, the 49ers added they found it "sad that the actions of a few can negatively affect the reputation of a great fan base."
The victim, a 35-year-old father of two whose wife is a 49ers fan, sustained a concussion and bruises on his head from the attack, BuzzFeed News learned Tuesday.
A spokesman for the Santa Clara Police Department said they were investigating the situation, but that no arrests had been made. Investigators are in contact with the victim, police said.
The 49ers said they were "collaborating" with the SCPD in the investigation.
The video of the attack was posted on Facebook by 23-year-old Brandon Cosio, who told BuzzFeed News he wasn't aware his post setting were set to public when he uploaded the video Monday night.
After the video went viral, Cosio said four police officers and two Santa Clara detectives show up at his home.
"I thought I was just sharing a video with friends of mine. Never in a million years would I have thought that it would get 1.6 million views within 12 hours," he said.
"If I had known that I would he never posted it and just gave it to the police immediately," he said.
Cosio later deleted the video.
In a caption on the video post, Cosio explained what he saw leading up to the brawl:
The Viking fan in the video and a 49er fan NOT in the video were talking smack to each other, getting into each others [sic] faces. A lot of fans from both sides were telling both people to stop and just walk to their cars. The 49er fan then walked away from the situation and that's when the Viking fan may have got a little cocky. The Viking fan turned around and addressed everyone behind him (mostly 49er fans). He said " what's up, any of you fuckers want some?!" At that point everyone went silent for 2 seconds then as the Viking fan was turning around to walk away, the 49er fan in the black (at the beginning of the video who threw the first punch) tackled him to the ground. That's where the video starts.
Cosio would not comment further on the brawl, but commended the Landmark Security guard for breaking up the situation, suggesting that he even saved the Vikings fan's life.
"If he wasn't there, things could have gotten a lot worse," Cosio said. "There were zero police officers in the area, from the beginning of the fight until the end. Zero showed up."
Cosio said he told detectives that he had never seen police patrolling the stadium parking lots after games, except to direct traffic.
The SCPD and the 49ers each declined to provide numbers of security guards or police assigned to each game at Levi's Stadium, citing safety and privacy concerns. However, the team's struggles with properly staffing and allocating security around the stadium has been well documented since its opening in 2014.
Mike Rosenberg, a former San Jose Mercury News reporter who covered the stadium development for four years and is now based in Seattle, reported in 2013 that the City of Santa Clara was seeking 120 police officers to work stadium duty for $55 per hour in addition to in-house SCPD officers.
Separate from the game-day police officers for hire, 49ers contractor Landmark Event Staffing keeps a continual list of ads on Craigslist seeking security and other fan services positions. Rosenberg reported in August 2014, four days before the first 49ers game was played at the stadium, that Landmark was posting ads that offered to pay $290 certification costs for prospective security guards.
Levi's Stadium and the 49ers have also struggled to make parking at or around the stadium easy for fans attending games. The 49ers did not host a Monday night or Thursday night game during their inaugural season at Levi's due to a parking shortage, partially because lots are in use by employees of nearby businesses on weekdays.
The team managed to add parking between this season and last, but the parking situation has required a considerable amount of game-day event staffers to help manage the traffic in and out of the stadium.
"I think the assumption was the 'wine and cheese crowd' that came with high ticket prices would make going to games safer than Candlestick," Rosenberg told BuzzFeed News Wednesday. "But there are always going to be drunk and violent fans looking to cause trouble."
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