Inglewood police have arrested a suspect in connection to the beating and subsequent hospitalization of Daniel Luna, a San Francisco 49ers fan, at SoFi Stadium.
Police were able to enhance SoFi Stadium security footage that showed Luna, currently in a medically induced coma at a Los Angeles hospital, was injured in an altercation with a person in a Los Angeles Rams jersey prior to Sunday's NFC Championship Game.
Detectives were able to get a license plate from the footage, Inglewood Mayor James Butts told KCBS Radio Friday morning. This led them to an individual, which led them to the suspect.
Police arrested the suspect in Montebello.
"I think the police did an excellent job in uncovering the pertinent evidence and tracking down the other party," said Butts. "I think this is going to end up being an extraordinary tragedy for both of these individuals."
Butts said in a press conference Thursday that in the video, Luna and a suspect were pushing one another in a stadium parking lot, before the suspect struck Luna in the face. Luna first pushed the suspect from behind, according to Butts.
"It appears that the suspect then retaliated by pushing Mr. Luna from behind and then struck Mr. Luna once in the mouth area," Butts said in an introductory statement. "Mr. Luna fell to the ground, where he was later found by security personnel who summoned paramedics."
Luna, the owner of Peruvian fusion restaurant Mistura on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, remains in a medically induced coma at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Butts said this was to prevent brain swelling because Luna was bleeding inside his skull.
The suspect, according to Butts, was wearing a Rams jersey, and the altercation lasted fewer than five seconds. Prior to the confrontation, Butts said Luna was with a gathering of people, the "overwhelming majority" of whom appeared to be 49ers fans.
Inglewood police told KCBS Radio on Wednesday night that investigators had not yet obtained SoFi Stadium security footage. Butts said on Thursday the department "only recently" obtained the footage allowing them to "identify the vehicle" and he was only notified of it on Thursday, when he "found out we had something that could be a crime."
"I knew that we had an injured person," Butts said. "I did not know that we had an allegation of an assault. We had a person in a medically induced coma, that officers never got to interview."
The Los Angeles Times first reported on Luna's injuries on Wednesday night, noting in a follow-up piece on Thursday that the Inglewood Police Department didn't acknowledge the incident until after the paper inquired about it.
Although Luna was injured in an altercation with someone who appeared to be a rival fan, Butts was quick to dismiss comparisons to Bryan Stow. Stow, a San Francisco Giants fan, was comatose for nine months and sustained brain damage following a beating from two Los Angeles Dodgers fans outside Dodger Stadium on the first day of the 2011 MLB season.
"To be blunt about it, it looked like a small altercation that went very bad from one punch and someone falling, hitting their head on the ground," Butts said. "It wasn't like you had people ganging up on somebody and beating them, as you did in Dodger Stadium."
Police have not yet released the identity of the suspect.
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