49ers stadium management decline to attend council meeting about stabbing incident
By LaMonica Peters and KTVU Staff
SANTA CLARA, CA - Details about a stabbing incident at Levi’s Stadium in July were presented to Santa Clara City Council Tuesday night. A man was stabbed during a professional soccer match and the suspect is now facing attempted murder charges.
Mayor Lisa Gillmor and Council member Kathy Watanabe requested a detailed report just days after the stabbing incident. But on Tuesday night, stadium management didn’t attend the meeting.
"There’s a lot more to discuss than just the fan violence that evening. There’s parking, there’s trash, there are all kinds of things, so I’m disappointed that they’re not here," Gillmor said.
Santa Clara’s Police Chief was there and presented his feedback from that day.
Levi’s Stadium management MANCO declined to attend Tuesday’s council meeting.
MANCO told city officials they weren’t ready to discuss the July 2 stabbing incident due to possible lawsuits.
A viral video captures the incident at Levi’s Stadium during a soccer game between Mexico and Qatar. Santa Clara’s Police Chief talked about how police responded.
"We were able to identify a suspect and a suspect was arrested less than 48 hours after the incident and is currently in custody and awaiting trial," said Pat Nikolai, Santa Clara Police Chief.
The council specifically asked stadium management and police to address illegal activities including vendors and parking near the stadium, hand wands being used to screen ticket holders instead of magnetometers and fan violence inside and outside the stadium.
"There were also incidents outside the stadium and one of the things I’m concerned about is, granted what happens in the stadium is inside the stadium, but what happens in our community," Gillmor said.
Nikolai says Levi’s Stadium is in the top 5% of safest stadiums in the NFL. He told the council they have a neighborhood protection detail and officers patrol all parking lots. Still, he says some things are just out their control.
"Protection of life is always the top priority. There have been incidents when we’ve had to take our neighborhood protection detail temporarily away for a higher priority incident, but we do always get them back as soon as possible," Nikolai said.
Because stadium management was not at this meeting, the council said they’ll continue addressing these issues when they do attend a council meeting.
KTVU also reached out to the 49ers for comment but didn’t hear back from them in time for this report.
