An off-duty Atlanta police sergeant required several stitches after getting hit in the face with a glass bottle while leaving Wednesday’s Atlanta United game, authorities said.
The officer, who asked not to be identified, left Mercedes-Benz Stadium about 10:30 p.m. with his wife and a friend when a fan hurled beer bottles at them as they walked through the Gulch.
Atlanta defeated Mexican team Monterrey 1-0 in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal, but lost 3-1 on goal differential.
According to the police report, the three were going down an escalator when the sergeant’s friend got into a verbal altercation with several men about him wearing the opposing team’s jersey.
“They were on their way back to their cars when they came upon a group that apparently had some differences about how the game had played out,” Atlanta police Maj. Darin Shierbaum told Channel 2 Action News. “There was a discussion, an argument between two groups and he was trying to calm everyone down when someone lobbed a bottle.”
Several bottles were thrown and one of them hit the officer in the forehead, exploding on impact and causing lacerations that required stitches, according to the report. The sergeant told police he knew it was a beer bottle because he could taste it.
Authorities have not made any arrests in the case, but the report said a stadium camera located about 50 feet from the incident may help identify the suspects.
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