MISSION VALLEY — William Carroll’s arrest at Sunday’s Chargers game is a five-star YouTube hit.
The videotaped arrest of the enthusiastic — and allegedly inebriated — New York Jets fan at Qualcomm Stadium has football fans howling in cyber protest.
The video, which also was posted on news sites and blogs, was accompanied by headlines such as “Jets fan arrested for liking Jets too much” and “San Diego cops arrest Jets fan for cheering his team.”
The New York Post wrote: “Jets fan arrested in San Diego for no apparent reason.”
San Diego police beg to differ. Assistant Chief Bob Kanaski said Carroll was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication and delaying or obstructing a police officer in his duties.
“It had nothing to do with cheering, it had to do with the behavior not seen on the film,” Kanaski said yesterday.
The 3½-minute video shows a man in a green Jets shirt, identified by police as Carroll, 43, a Southern California resident, chanting “Jets, Jets, Jets” with upraised arms facing the crowd in the stands. About 12 seconds into the video, edited footage jumps to four police officers surrounding Carroll, trying to handcuff him as he struggles. This is punctuated by shouts of “Attica” and boos from the crowd. One man repeatedly yells: “He didn’t do anything.”
After a little more than two minutes, Carroll is finally handcuffed and carried out in a prone position. There is a smattering of applause while others continue to heckle the officers.
Kanaski, who heads the department’s special operation unit, said Carroll was booked into County Jail on the two misdemeanor charges.
He said officers went to talk to Carroll after being notified via text message from an off-duty police officer at the game who said the Jets fan was intoxicated and out of control.
A sergeant asked Carroll three times to accompany him out of the stands but he refused. Kanaski said at one point Carroll tried to head-butt one of the officers. When the fan balled his fists and took a stance, the sergeant began to handcuff him, Kanaski said. That is where the video picks up again.
“The guy was obviously drunk and causing difficulty in the section,” Kanaski said.
Of the 69,000 people at the game, 49 arrests were made, and 43 of those involved being drunk in public. Others were arrested on charges such as petty theft, grand theft and battery, Kanaski said. Thirty-three were ejected for rowdy behavior. Police also issued several citations.
Most of those arrested were Chargers fans, although Kanaski said he did see a few green jerseys at the prisoner processing area at the stadium.
The notion that officers were simply picking on one of them is “far from the truth,” Kanaski said.