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A man is dead after falling about 40 feet from the upper deck while the Atlanta Braves played the New York Yankees at Turner Field Saturday night.
Atlanta police say they are investigating the cause of the fall.
The medical examiner said that Gregory Murrey, 60, of Alpharetta, died upon arrival at Grady Memorial Hospital. The fan did not hit or injure anyone else during the fall.
"Right now preliminary investigation reveals there is no type of foul play but we need to wait until the medical examiner rules on the cause of death," said Atlanta police lieutenant Charles Hampton, the department's homicide commander. "We’re asking anybody who’s in the area to come forward and let us know what they saw. But we don’t believe it was anything suspicious."
The fall occurred in the top of the seventh inning, as the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez was walking to the plate amid a chorus of boos. The man apparently fell off the upper deck behind the home-plate area and landed between the second and third row of seats on the first level in section 202. Fans seated in that area immediately scattered, and paramedics rushed in and did chest compressions, a form of CPR, in an attempt to revive him.
The man eventually was carried out. But there were at least two pools of blood on the concrete where he was lying. Three rows of seats were emptied and a stadium worker with a mop arrived soon after to mop up the blood.
Earlier, Sgt. Greg Lyon with Atlanta police said, “Yes. A fan has fallen and his condition is grave. We are investigating the circumstances of the fall, and I will keep you posted as I learn more.”
The Atlanta Braves released the following statement:
"There was an accident during tonight's game involving a fan. The fam was immediately treated at the scene and transported to a local hospital."
This is not the first tragedy at Turner Field. In 2013, a Braves fan, Ronald Lee Homer Jr., 30, of Conyers died Aug. 12 after climbing over a railing and leaping to his death in a parking lot 85 feet below. Homer’s family said the death was accidental but it was ruled a suicide.
Another man fell to his death in 2008. Justin Hayes, 25, of Cumming suffered fell an estimated four levels inside the stadium to field level, striking a concrete and metal railing. He was taken to the hospital but later died of his injuries.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this report.
