Students Hurt in Brawl at Padres Game Tell Their Side

Two college students reportedly beaten up by a police officer, two sheriff’s correctional deputies and another man, said Wednesday they are still in shock over the July 26 incident at a Padres baseball game, which is under investigation by both San Diego police and the county Sheriff’s Department.

The students say they want to press charges against the four men, whose names have not been released pending the investigations.

“I know when cops are off-duty, they’re just like you and me, but they should be a little different,” said Chuck Depreker, 21, a Fresno State junior who lives in Fallbrook. “They shouldn’t get involved in stuff like this.”

Depreker said he was punched in the side of the head, which formed a bloody gash, as he tried to intervene in the fight. “I saw stars,” he said. He said he had to be helped to his feet.

Brian Gowen, 20, a sophomore at Colorado State University who is living with his parents this summer in Oceanside, said he suffered a cut leg, a hairline fracture under his eye, cuts on his lip and choke marks on his neck.

Gowen and Depreker said the fight started after the four men threw a full cup of beer at them and Gowen returned fire with a half-cup of his own.

The four men were rooting for the New York Mets. Gowen and Depreker said they were rooting for the Padres.

“In the sixth or seventh inning, the Padres hit a home run, and that made it 5 to 2 Padres,” Gowen said. “These guys started bad-mouthing the Padres and calling me names. I was cursing back at them. The guy who was the cop asked me if I wanted to take it outside. I said, ‘Oh yeah, you guys are 200 pounds and I’m 160 pounds.’ ”

After the beer was exchanged, the four men “hiked over the row of chairs and grabbed me,” said Gowen, who started to run. The men grabbed hold of him and began punching, he said.

An internal affairs investigator kept Gowen and Depreker at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium until midnight, and neither was able to get medical treatment until then, Gowen said. The students went to an Oceanside hospital emergency room and didn’t get home until 5:30 a.m.

Both students were disturbed that the Mets fans were questioned and able to leave the stadium fairly quickly while they had to wait three hours for an internal affairs investigator to show up.

“We were sitting there bleeding,” Depreker said. “I wanted to get out of there.”

Gowen said he had a 2-inch hairline fracture under his left eye, which was blackened in the fight. He said he had a 4-inch cut on his leg and three or four cuts on his face, including a bloody lip.

Depreker said he was told by hospital personnel that he needed stitches on the side of his head but has not sought treatment.

In the fracas, Gowen said one of the men pulled his sweat shirt off, and that none of the other fans besides his friend intervened.

“They got ahold of me, and I was screwed,” he said. “I couldn’t get out of the row where I was sitting because there were other people there, so I just covered up. One by one, they started pulling back. The cop was the last one to pull back.”

Eyewitnesses have corroborated the students’ stories.

“I was so shocked,” Gowen said. “You know how you get this sudden shock? People were asking me in the corridor if I was OK. I was bleeding, but it didn’t even hurt, I was so in shock. I was numb. Then I heard a cop was involved, and I thought, ‘Which one was he?’ ”