An ugly instance of fan-on-fan violence during Thursday night’s game in Carolina was caught on video and posted to social media, raising concerns about safety at NFL games.
In the video, uploaded to Instagram shortly after the game ended, a man and woman can be seen standing and yelling at the man sitting behind them. The man standing suddenly punches the man sitting in the face. The couple then runs off as the man who was sitting covers up his face and wipes blood away.
According to the person who uploaded the video, the man and woman were standing for the entire game and the man sitting behind them complained that they were obstructing his view. The man who committed the assault allegedly spewed homophobic slurs and profanity toward the victim. Both men were wearing Panthers gear.
NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said this morning that the league office had just been made aware of the incident.
“We are aware of it and are in contact with club security,” Lockhart said. “We have robust security plans in place at all of our games. . . . We take all of these very seriously.”
The NFL needs to take such incidents even more seriously. Too often, social media on the morning after NFL games includes videos of fistfights and assaults.