A spectator was rushed to a North Carolina hospital Saturday night after falling from an upper level ramp at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium during the ACC Championship football game between Georgia Tech and Florida State University.
Charlotte Mecklenburg police spokeswoman Jessica A. Lawrence told the AJC that officers responding to the 8 p.m. incident determined that Sean Michael Powers, 22, had fallen from the 400 level ramp and onto a lawn.
Lawrence said Powers, of New Port Richey, Fla., was trying to find his seat when he fell.
Powers was taken to Carolinas Medical Center, and was in critical condition late Saturday night, Lawrence said.
She said that while the department’s homicide detectives responded, “the preliminary investigation indicates that this is a public accident.”
The fall is the first of its kind from Bank of America Stadium, home of the Carolina Panthers.
The stadium opened in 1996.
It was not immediately known whether Powers was a Georgia Tech or Florida State fan.
Saturday night’s incident was second time this season that a fan has fallen from an upper level at a Georgia Tech game.
A football fan escaped serious injury when he fell about 20 feet at the Georgia Tech-Miami game in September.
Jose Rodrigo Espinosa, 22, fell from the upper stands area near Section 219 to the ground level during the second quarter of the Sept. 22 game at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Espinosa, a Tech alumnus from Tucker, was “dazed but responsive” when he was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he later received three stitches and was released, according to a police report on the incident obtained by the AJC.
“A witness later came forward stating that they saw Espinosa leaning up against the railing and flip back over it, like he thought a wall was behind him,” the police report stated.
That incident came just weeks after a Tennessee football fan fell to his death during a game at the Georgia Dome.
Isaac Grubb, 20, of Lenoir City, Tenn., died at Grady after falling from the upper deck of the Dome during the August 31 game between the University of Tennessee and North Carolina State.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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