Beating caught on video leads to arrest
Suspect in stands at Levi’s Stadium repeatedly punched man in face
SANTA CLARA » A video that was widely circulated on social media captured one man repeatedly punching another man in the stands at
Levi’s Stadium during Thursday night’s game between the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders.
In the video, the man wearing a red Tshirt stands above another man wearing a 49ers jersey, throwing punch after punch. After a few seconds, the man who threw the punches was pulled away by others and walked away, leaving the other man with a bloodied face.
The video did not capture the aftermath, when Santa Clara police and stadium security located the suspected attacker, identified as 31-yearold Steve Gonzalez Guardado, and arrested him on suspicion of assault.
“We located and arrested that person within minutes of the assault,” Santa Clara police Capt. Wahid Kazem said.
In all, there were 32 arrests that occurred during the nationally-televised game at Levi’s Stadium, including three people accused of assault. The majority
of the arrests were related to drunk in public charges, Kazem said.
Aware of a history of fan altercations at Raiders-49ers games, Santa Clara police dramatically increased their gameday security and used undercover officers dressed as football fans throughout the stadium.
For a typical NFL game at Levi’s, Santa Clara police employ over 100 outof-town officers to work at
the stadium. While police did disclose precise details about their officer presence for Thursday, Kazem said it was “significantly higher.”
“When you have the history of this rivalry, and that number of people in a venue, it’s a great example of our planning and preparation to make this a safe event,” Kazem said. “We did have a couple of bad actors.
“But there was a lot of
law enforcement out there. It was a great collaboration between a lot of different entities.”
Last month, a 33-yearold San Jose man was attacked by a fan in a Levi’s Stadium parking lot, one of the more violent assaults to occur. The injured
fan was taken to Valley Medical Center, where he remains in critical condition.
The suspect, 34-yearold David Aguilera Gonzales of Madera, was charged with assault by means of force causing great bodily injury — in this case a
brain injury leading to the victim becoming comatose — after allegedly punching a man multiple times during a confrontation after the game Oct. 7 against the Arizona Cardinals.