Pittsburgh Pirates fan sues Braves for beating

By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Pittsburgh Pirates fan is suing the Atlanta Braves because the baseball club's security officers and ushers allegedly ignored complaints about six rowdy fans who later attacked the Macon man, knocking out 11 teeth, breaking his jaw and leaving him in a pool of blood outside a Turner Field restroom.

According to the suit filed in Fulton County State Court Tuesday, Elmer “Bobby” Collins does not yet know what he will owe Grady Memorial Hospital and the Pain Institute of Georgia for medical expenses. He is asking to be reimbursed at least $38,714 for medical bills, almost all of it for “estimated future surgery.”

His attorney, Jon Hawk, said Collins has not had the money for the surgery to repair the damage and for the past two years "he's been drinking out of a straw. His diet is he has to have soft food. He can't go out and enjoy steak like we can."

Collins, a maintence worker, also wants to be reimbursed for any other economic losses and for “future pain and suffering.” He is asking for punitive damages against the Braves for willful misconduct and for being "stubbornly litigious" and causing Collins "unnecessary trouble and expense."

Braves spokeswoman Beth Marshall said: “We are confident that our personnel acted appropriately and will continue to vigorously defend this matter which was voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiff in November of 2010 and has been re-filed.”

Hawk said the case was withdrawn so he could line up experts and filing it a second time was not unusual. "The case was never abandoned," Hawk said.

According to the suit, Collins, his 11-year-old nephew and a friend,  Andrew Coggins, went to the April 2, 2008, Braves game with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Collins was wearing a black Pirates ball cap.

Around the third inning, six young men sat in seats in the row in front of Collins in section 217. Collins, his nephew, Coggins, and two friends of Coggins had seats on the ninth row.

“These six young men were visibly intoxicated when they arrived and they continued to consume alcohol throughout the remainder of the game,” the suit said. “Throughout the baseball game, these six young men were rowdy, boisterous and verbally abusive to [Collins], including the use of a racial slur.”

According to the police report of the incident, the six men were dancing and and their images were show on the "JumboTron" in the outfield.

There have been no criminal charges filed in the case. Hawk said police have not responded to calls.

Collins said in the suit that he and the rest of his party ignored the men and at one point Collins moved a few seats down the row because the six were blocking his view and were loud while he was “charting” both teams’ pitches.

Twice he complained to ushers and security staff . The first time was when an usher came to Collins and his party to follow up on a complaint from someone else about foul language, and Collins  said it was the men in the row in front of them.

The suit said the second time he complained it was to two ushers and two security officers. He was told “his only recourse was to file a written complaint at another concourse across the stadium.”

Instead, Collins and his friends decided to leave in the eighth inning after they stopped by the restroom.

Collins said he encountered the six men outside the restroom and one of them flipped a cigarette butt. He said he looked down when the butt hit his chest and when he looked up he was “immediately and violently struck in the mouth and knocked to the ground.”

The one punch knocked out his teeth and knocked him unconscious, according to the suit.

One of Collins' friends and his nephew realized he was missing so went back to find him, passing the six men on the stairs.

According to the police report, Collins was lying on the ground outside the Chop House on the terrace level.

Coggins and Tyler Collins found Elmer Collins “lying in a large, thick pool of his own blood… Eleven of plaintiff’s teeth were found and collected at the scene of the attack.”

His jaw was also broken.

Pain, stiffness, headaches and muscle spasms continue, according to the suit.

Elmer Collins said the Braves had three options staff could have taken: move Elmer Collins and his friends or move the six men, expel the six from Turner Field or escort the Collins party to their cars.

The Braves “employees and agents were otherwise negligent,” the suit said.