Bryan Stow Attack Prelim: Friend Testifies to Two Separate Attacks

Louie Sanchez and Mavin Norwood are charged in the opening day attack on Bryan Stow

A friend of beating victim Bryan Stow testified Friday that his group was attacked twice outside Dodger Stadium after the 2011 opening day game.

Alan "Jeff" Bradford testified during the third day of a preliminary that will determine whether there is enough evidence for Marvin Norwood and Louie Sanchez to stand trial for allegedly attacking the San Francisco Giants fan.

Sanchez and Norwood are charged with one felony count each of mayhem, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and battery with serious  bodily injury, along with the allegation that the two inflicted great bodily injury on Stow, a Bay Area paramedic.

Sanchez is also charged with a misdemeanor count of battery involving a  run-in with a female Giants fan and a misdemeanor battery count for allegedly  swinging his fist at a young man in a group of Giants fans in the parking lot  after the game.

Bradford testified that he was walking with Stow and two others when he heard a commotion.

"I saw Corey kind of wrapping up Bryan and turning away, and at that point I looked at Matt and Matt had kinda been punched in the cheek," Bradford testified.

The group walked away briskly to avoid further confrontation, but several minutes later, heard what sounded like someone running up from behind, Bradford testified.

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"I kind of turned around back to see what it was as it was real close to me and I got struck in the face," he said.

The group, Bradford testified, had done nothing to provoke the attack and did not have a chance to defend themselves.

"I saw Bryan Stow in a standing position and kind of on his way back with arms limp, you know, it looked like he was already unconscious going to the ground," Bradford testified.

The prosecution asserts it was Sanchez that threw the punch that knocked down Stow and that Norwood was with him.

But as with Thursday's three parking lot witnesses, Bradford was unable to identify the assailant as one of the two defendants, although he did testify seeing two men running away from the group, at least one of them wearing a Dodgers fan jersey.

Testimony will resume Wednesday, June 6, when another member of the group is expected to testify.

Wednesday, the prosecution played a video of Norwood acknowledging that he was involved in the attack. The video was released Friday.

"I was involved. Yeah... It was... I mean, to a certain extent I was. Pretty sure I'm going to go down for it," Norwood can be heard saying, in part, to his mother.

Norwood made that phone call during a break from a police interview.

The preliminary phase began earlier this week with testimony from other fans who attended the game and investigators. Two women testified Thursday that they heard Stow fall to the ground after he was punched in the head during a parking lot confrontation.

"I heard Bryan (Stow) hit the pavement. It sounded like a thud, like  someone's head was smashing (against) the pavement,'' Megan Duffy testified. "And then I saw Bryan get kicked in the head by the same gentleman I saw throw the punch."

"Did he appear to be conscious?'' Deputy District Attorney Michele  Hanisee asked.

"No,'' the prosecution witness responded, noting that she called 911 to  get help for Stow.

Duffy testified that she only got a side view of the man who punched and  kicked Stow, but that she got a better view of another man who landed on the  hood of her black sport-utility vehicle during the altercation in Lot 2. She  said she was later shown photographs by police and chose a photo -- of Norwood - - as the man she believed had landed on the top of her vehicle's hood.

She noted that Stow "had Giants attire on'' and "was lying unconscious  on the ground'' after the attack.

Joann Cerda, who was also walking in the parking lot after the game,  testified that she saw two Dodgers fans and four Giants fans and witnessed a  "verbal altercation'' in which the Giants fans were trying to stop the dispute  and attempting to walk away.

"I saw Bryan Stow standing by himself ... One of the suspects hit him  on the side of his face,'' she said. "Bryan Stow immediately fell backwards  and his head .. hit the concrete. It was rather loud.''

Stow suffered a fracture to his skull that resulted in the loss of a  portion of his skull as well as damage to his brain according to a stipulation  signed by attorneys from both sides and read in court.

Stow is currently "unable to walk, has loss of motor skills in his arms  and hands, is unable to carry on a normal conversation, unable to control his  bodily functions, and unable to care for himself due to diffuse, severe,  traumatic brain injury,'' according to  the signed stipulation.

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