Bryan Stow’s recovery from beating slow as guilty pleas expected

With the suspects in the beating of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow expected to plead guilty Thursday, Stow’s family reports his recovery remains slow.

Stow was attacked in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium in 2011 after the Dodgers’ home opener.

On their website, the Stow family said Stow is still struggling with the massive head injuries he suffered.

“We wish there was something different to post, but Bry is pretty much doing the same as our last update. He works so hard physically and cognitively that he is exhausted most days,” the family wrote earlier this month. “We recently shaved Bryan’s head and it was shocking to see the damage to his skull. Seeing him stare at himself in the mirror was heartbreaking.”
Marvin Norwood, 30, and Louie Sanchez, 31, face charges of mayhem, assault and battery, and inflicting great bodily injury in the beating of Stow, a 44-year-old father of two. Law enforcement sources said that under the plea deal, Norwood would get four years in prison and Sanchez would get eight years.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk, said the guilty pleas could come when the pair appear in court Thursday in Los Angeles.

The March 31 attack left Stow, a Northern California paramedic, with serious head trauma and a permanent disability that means he will need care for the rest of his life.

The incident drew national attention and calls for police, city officials and the Dodgers to tighten stadium security and better protect fans. Stow was attacked as he and three other Giants fans, all Bay Area paramedics, walked through the parking lot after the Dodger win. Witnesses at a preliminary hearing last year described boorish, drunken and profane behavior directed against Giants fans by Sanchez.

Stow said that he hoped they “code,” paramedic slang for having a heart attack, and then the man later identified as Sanchez shoved Stow. The paramedics took off to avoid a confrontation but a few minutes later, the two assailants accosted Stow and his friends.

Witnesses said Stow was sucker-punched a man in a Dodger jersey. Stow fell on the ground, fracturing his skull and receiving permanent brain damage. Once on the ground, Stow was kicked in the ribs and head.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said pleas were possible at the hearing but stressed that any final decision would be made in the courtroom.