Stow trial: Stadium management expert testifies for defense

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A stadium management expert took the stand Thursday in the Bryan Stow civil trial against the Los Angeles Dodgers and former owner Frank McCourt.

The big question: Was security adequate at Dodger Stadium the day Stow was brutally beaten in the stadium parking lot?

In the case of alleged negligence, it's undisputed that Giants fan Bryan Stow was the victim of a brutal attack at Dodger Stadium on opening day in 2011 by two troublemakers with a history of violence.

The point of contention: Could more security or different deployment have prevented the assault that disabled Stow for life?

A stadium management expert for the plaintiffs asserted that if two officers were present in Lot 2 as they were assigned, the tragedy could have been averted.

However he published other statements which question that. The defense expert, stadium management consultant William Squires, testified Thursday about those statements.

Squires was asked if it's impossible to have a 100-percent safe event. Yes, Squires agreed, it's impossible.

Asked if there is any way to have safe event? Yes, said Squires: If nobody goes to the game.

He was asked if an operator of a baseball game takes reasonable steps, could a crime still occur? Answer: Yes.

Squires continued by saying there is no clear-cut standard for the number of security personnel needed to staff any event or facility.

The challenge for the jury is to weigh various scenarios and their possible outcomes.

"It's not like a computer game where you can play it out using a different alternative," said Professor John Nockleby, director of the Civil Justice Program at Loyola Law School. He said there will be many "What-ifs."

"The defense is going to be arguing that nobody could have predicted this very event," said Nockleby. "Even if there had been another guard, they might have been looking in a different way, or not able to do something about it. It would have been difficult, even under those circumstances, to prevent the injury, and it's all speculative and hypothetical."

But what about the rowdy fans? No security guard saw or reported some of the confrontations inside the stadium that day.

Squires testified that fans have a responsibility for safety too, that the Dodgers had created a hotline and a text-message alert system. The fans could have raised a red flag about bad conduct, but in many cases did not.

Cross-examination of the defense witness proceeds on Friday.