A member of the Brownwood, Texas Fire Department fell over a railing at Arlington Stadium during a game between the Oakland A's and the Texas Rangers on July 7th, 2011 and eventually died of his injuries.
Shannon Stone, an 18-year veteran of the Brownwood Fire Department, was attending the game with his young son. During the second inning, after Oakland's Conor Jackson hit a foul ball that ricocheted into left field, Josh Hamilton retrieved the ball and tossed it into the stands. Stone reached for the ball, caught it, and then tumbled 20 feet down around 7:33 P.M. The video embedded below shows it at the 0:58 point:
The play-by-play announcers knew the man had fallen, but were unaware of the severity; they assumed there was protection in the area. You can even hear one of the announcers chuckling to himself during the subsequent commentary. But Stone didn't die right away; Oakland reliever Brad Ziegler said "They had him on a stretcher. He said, 'Please check on my son. My son was up there by himself.' The people who carried him out reassured him. 'Sir, we'll get your son, we'll make sure he's OK,'. "He had his arms swinging. He talked and was conscious. We assumed he was okay. But when you find out he's not, it's just tough." Safawna Dunn, who was sitting behind the victim, said Stone appeared to have injuries to both arms and was conscious when taken away on a stretcher. Another person said Stone's head was bleeding badly. Stone went into full cardiac arrest en route to John Peter Smith Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:26 P.M.
Former president George W. Bush was sitting in the front row with Rangers' team president Nolan Ryan when the accident happened. Ryan left moments later while Bush remained in the seats. Ryan said the former president, who used to be the team's managing general partner and is a frequent visitor to Rangers games, was aware of what was happening.
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