According to a defense attorney for one of the men accused of knocking a woman out in a brawl following an SF Giants game, there's more to the story than what you've heard from the police report and video of the altercation. That's why, even though both suspects admit they were involved in Thursday's altercation, they're pleading not guilty to all charges — and are arguing that one of the accused men is actually the most seriously injured victim.

As you already know, at around 5:50 p.m. on Thursday July 10, a 28-year-old San Jose man and a 27-year-old Oakland woman were leaving a game between the SF Giants and the Oakland A's when, witnesses say, the soon-to-be-assault suspects and the man began to argue.

According to San Francisco Police Department spokesperson Officer Albie Esparza, one of the suspects punched the man in the face, and when the woman attempted to intervene, the second suspect punched her and knocked her unconscious, leaving her with a concussion. You can watch the altercation in the video below.

Based on the registration records for a truck seen fleeing the scene, police tracked the suspects to Sacramento and arrested them last week.

However, the defense attorney for one of the suspects, Anthony Rucker, a 42-year-old Sacramento-based landscaper, says that there's more to the story.

According to Bay City News, Peter Santina, who represents Rucker, said in court Tuesday that it was “obvious Rucker was simply defending himself” after attending the game with his 13-year-old daughter, 17-year-old son and wife.

Santina said that the San Jose man, who suffered chipped teeth is the scrum, actually started the fight, saying that the man accused Rucker’s teenaged daughter of recording video of the Oakland woman (and eventual victim) with her cell phone as she was vomiting on the sidewalk. (According to Santina, the child was actually just playing a game on her phone.)

Lorne Dubin, the attorney for second suspect Francisco Lopez, a 32-year-old precision mechanic for PG&E who was at the game with his fiancé, said in court that Lopez “was not aggressive to anyone, but was assaulted,” by the San Jose man, who Dubin says sent Lopez to the ground and broke his nose.

“The only great bodily injury occurred to Lopez,” he said in court, and later told the Chron that Lopez's "breathing was so impaired that while in custody, when he was eating, he started to choke because he couldn't breathe through his nose. He turned blue and he almost died. That's how badly his nose was broken."

It was only after Lopez went down, says Santina, that Rucker, attempting to protect Lopez from further injury, hit the woman.

Santina said Rucker was “there with his family to enjoy the baseball game” and has no criminal record.

However, Assistant District Attorney Blair McGregor told the judge that both Rucker and Lopez are on probation for offenses committed in Sacramento County, Rucker after a conviction for illegal possession of marijuana, and Lopez for negligent discharge of a firearm.

Both men remain in custody, Rucker on $200,000 bail, and Lopez on $203,000. They're both expected to return to count on July 24.

[Bay City News]
[Chron]