A fan is in critical condition after falling from the 200 level of the PPG Paints Arena during the Pittsburgh Penguins’ game this Monday.
This event occurred after the Pens’ second score in the first period of the team’s 6-3 victory against the St. Louis Blues.
Fans believed they had seen the man stumble between sections 201 to 234 as he approached the glass, before falling headfirst over the railing.
“He was just coming down the stairs, and then he lost balance,” said Sam Dance, who was sitting near the top of Section 234. “At first, I thought he was just having a joke because it was relatively slow. But he missed two or three [steps] in a row where he looked unbalanced, and then all of a sudden he was on the glass, sort of balanced. For like half a second, it was sort of ‘Is he going to go over or not?’ It was a split second, and then he just [fell].”
Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Jeff Abraham told the reporters the fan fell into the suite level and hit another person, who declined to be taken to the hospital. The fan then dropped another level into the walkway between the FNB Club and Section 122.
The Penguins, in a statement, said the team and OVG Management Group, which manages PPG Paints Arena, are “closely monitoring the situation.” “Our concerns remain with the individual and his family at this time,” the team said.
Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby scored his 1,700th point in his career this Monday, making him the ninth person in NHL history to do so. However, when asked about it, Crosby humbly declined to talk about the achievement and instead focused on the unfortunate situation.
“[It] doesn’t feel right to be talking about points when we hear something like that,” Crosby said. “So obviously, our thoughts and prayers are with that person and their family, and hopefully they’re OK,” Crosby said.
This marks the third incident of a person falling from the stands at a Pittsburgh sporting event this year. It comes just two days after a worker at Acrisure Stadium fell from the scoreboard Saturday night while preparing for Sunday’s Steelers-Packers game.
