Stiffer penalties?
Bill seeks to up cost of fan incursions at pro sports events
SACRAMENTO — When animal-rights activist Wayne Hsiung ran onto the field during a Giants game last year, he made a calculated bet: He’d get his message out to thousands of fans, and possibly television viewers, for the price of a criminal infraction and $250 fine.
It was worth it, said Hsiung, who darted onto the field at AT&T Park in September and wound up getting body-slammed by left fielder Angel Pagan — an action that drew thunderous cheers from the stands and was captured in video that went viral.
“We think it’s a strategic way to raise awareness,” said Hsiung, co-founder of Direct Action Everywhere, a group whose activists have raced onto the field at Los Angeles Dodgers games as well.
Activists like Hsiung might want to rethink interrupting professional sporting events if a state bill to increase penalties becomes law.
Under SB689 by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, au-
thorities would have the ability to prosecute the crime as a misdemeanor with up to 10 days in jail and a $2,500 fine, or an infraction with a $1,000 fine. Repeat offenders would face misdemeanor charges that could carry a 60-day jail sentence and a $5,000 fine.
Hsiung said he sees the bill as an attempt to silence his group. “The companies and sports teams supporting animal cruelty should be prosecuted, not the activists,” he argued.
But sports executives say they need to protect their players and staff, and are growing weary of what appears to be an increase in field trespassers during games.
The Giants and several of the state’s professional sports franchises say California’s penalties for such incursions aren’t strong enough to deter culprits, who are cited and released, and ejected from the stadium. The Giants have about 12 to 15 people run on the field each year, the team said.
And that figure appears to be increasing, said Jack Bair, a Giants executive vice president and general counsel.
“We take player safety seriously and feel compelled to address the growing concern about field trespassers who pose a security threat to our players and coaches,” Bair said. “The current law in California offers little assistance in confronting this problem when compared to other states.”
In Illinois, for example, fans can be — and are — charged with felony trespassing for running onto the field or court at a professional sporting event. Other states treat it as a misdemeanor. In California, it’s an infraction with a potential $250 fine.
“The unpredictable behavior of those who trespass onto the field poses a potential threat to players, coaches and umpires alike,” Dan Halem, the chief legal officer for Major League Baseball, wrote in a letter to support SB689.
Nearly every professional sports team in the state supports the bill, including the Warriors, A’s, 49ers, Sharks, Dodgers and Anaheim Ducks hockey team. SB689 passed its first hearing Tuesday in the Senate Public Safety Committee and now heads to the Senate’s Appropriations Committee.
The American Civil Liberties Union opposes the bill, arguing that existing penalties are sufficient.
Wiener said there needs to be more teeth to the law so that teams can warn fans that they face arrest if they run onto the field or court.
“For some of the people who are trying to get attention for whatever reason, even commercial reasons, (the fine) is the cost of doing business,” Wiener said. “They can’t be arrested. Teams can’t even post signs saying you are subject to arrest if you run onto the field because it’s a mere infraction.”
The Giants’ front office had been talking about the need to increase penalties for several years. But it was driven to push harder for change after two high-profile field incursions at AT&T Park in September.
On Sept. 16, a Giants security officer broke his leg while trying to apprehend a man who ran onto the field during a Giants-St. Louis Cardinals game.
Two weeks later, Hsiung and another animalrights activist ran out when the Giants played the Dodgers. Pagan body-slammed Hsiung, who tried to hand players white paper flowers to represent what he said were billions of animals killed each year in the United States.
At a news conference after the incident, Hsiung said they wanted to bring attention to their investigation into the supplier of Dodger Stadium hot dogs and to animal abuse.
Players, however, say they are uneasy anytime someone runs onto the field, unsure about possible intentions or whether the person has a weapon. After Pagan tackled Hsiung and pinned him until security personnel hauled him away, the left fielder said he was trying to protect himself and his teammates.
“After I saw him getting too close to Buster (Posey) that he had to push him away, I just thought that my teammate could be in danger,” Pagan told reporters in September. “So I had to do something because you never know what they’ve got on their body.”