Fan Tasered at Baseball Game...What did he do?

3:09PM | August 9, 2009 | posted by Caroline Kovach | comments: 13

Spectator sports and unruly spectators, the combination has become quite the buzz on the internet lately. Especially, after a fan caught on a man on tape being tasered by police during a ball game.

Now, chances are most of us have sat next to one of those obnoxious fans, you know the ones that are so drunk they’re spilling their drink all over the place and/or blurting out offensive remarks. But when things get out of hand, where do you draw line?

It all went down during the A's/Rangers game in Oakland. There are conflicting reports as to why police were called to the scene, but some sources say the man, Thomas Bruso, 62, was in the wrong seat and refused to comply with the officers.

A witness sitting 5 rows in front of him said this:

"He was actually a Texas fan and he kept yelling obnoxiously. The usher who had been very nice went over and made a joke. And dude flipped out screaming and swearing saying get outta my {expletive} face and calling him the "n" word. They called security and he was still screaming and swearing. So the police came and while they were trying to put handcuffs on him he kept trying to swing at them. So they tasered him and he fell and hit his head."

The drama didn't end there. Another fan, who rushed towards the ruckus, wound up tumbling down the stairs after the usher tried to block his view. Moments later, a foul ball is hit in the same area.

Some things I noticed in the video: the man was shouting something like "you better get away from me", he mocked a police with his hand and then swiped his arm back when the officer tried to cuff him. From what I saw, the man was not doing what police asked him to do.

Now, while I think his actions were grounds for removal, being tasered 3 times, might have been a little excessive, especially when he had handcuffs on.

What do you think? Was the situation handled properly?

Check out the video.

This is not the first incident where a fan at a sporting event was tasered. A woman accused of sitting in the wrong seat at a football game, was tasered by police last November.

Comments: 13

Posted by Hasta Manana at August 11, 2009 1:40 PM

The man in this clip, Thomas Bruso, is well-known in San Francisco, mentally unstable and extremely dangerous. Known as "Tom Slick" or "Vietnam Tom", he has attacked and choked people and spent a lot of time in jail. He's very strong, angry, belligerent, violent and unafraid of police. He could hurt or kill innocent people and should be locked up for his own good and for the good of society. I don't generally support using tasers, but this time, the police actually performed a public service.

Posted by Cara at September 5, 2009 2:14 AM

I was just on BART this week and only came to this site because a man stepped onto BART train yelling "make way for this cripple." He continued to rant quite loudly the whole ride making many rude/ threatening/ insulting comments (also mentioning that he was the man tased at A's game.) When one young man was fed up and moved thru the car past him he got really agressive and attempted to taunt the man to fight.... "to the death." As he exited he was still yelling that he would end things only by killing the guy and suggested that he had a gun in his coat. When he was leaving the train I finally saw his face, and I have to say that his eyes were incredibly unfocused and scary. I've done police ride alongs... so I'm not easily frightened - this man? was truly scary and totally unpredictable.

Posted by Cara at September 5, 2009 2:14 AM

Posted by Anonymous at February 17, 2010 2:02 AM

theres more videos of him on youtube causing problems totally deserved

Posted by Anonymous at February 17, 2010 2:12 AM

This man is bigger than Jesus.

Posted by Hasta Manana is a LIAR at February 17, 2010 2:14 AM

Thomas Bruso is not a dangerous man and he hasn't spent any time in jail. And he hasn't choked any innocent people. Thomas Bruso maybe be a loud and charismatic individual, but he is the farthest thing from dangerous.

Posted by Cara is a rambling moron at February 17, 2010 2:20 AM

@Cara
That story was the biggest crock of s*** I've ever read. And the only thing I saw in this video was an elderly man making fun of these cops, and the only "resisting of arrest" he did was to say "get away from me."
That does not grant police officers the right to tazer a man.
The officer with the tazer was way out of line.

"THIS ELDERLY MAN IS YELLING NONSENSE!! QUICK USE THE TAZER. I CAN'T TAKE DOWN THIS OLD FART WHILE THE 4 OTHER OFFICERS AROUND ME HAVE HAND CUFFED THIS MAN ALREADY."

Posted by joe at February 17, 2010 2:30 AM

epic bear man will destroy a mailbox and then walk into the sunset

Posted by Cavalier at February 17, 2010 2:36 AM

The Epic Beard Man's favoured enemy is not the White Policeman, hence his losing of the battle

Posted by Anonymous at February 17, 2010 2:51 AM

Screw losing the battle. He is Bruso. He needs no victory. He has revenge.

Posted by helmond at February 17, 2010 1:42 PM

when this was in a dutch stadium at a soccer game than the security and police were pretty beaten up by supporters.
helmond hooligans!

Posted by Huizen at February 17, 2010 4:34 PM

@ helmond

I recon that

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