Ban Sought on Beer Sales at Raiders Games

Citing the “increasing volatility” of Los Angeles Raiders fans, City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky on Tuesday called for an end to the sale of alcohol during football games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The request was prompted by an attack Sunday on a Pittsburgh Steelers fan who was kicked in the head and beaten as he walked through a crowd of hooting Raiders fans.

The victim, Paul Albrecht, 35, a former Pittsburgh resident who now lives in Tucson, was in serious condition Tuesday, but is improving and has been removed from the neurological intensive care unit at County-USC Medical Center, a spokesman said.

Shane Geringer, 19, of Agoura, was arrested for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon and was released Monday on $30,000 bail.

Yaroslavsky called the incident “shocking” and said it was “distressingly symptomatic” of behavior that he said is on the rise at the Coliseum, in large part because of the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

“More and more, the Coliseum during football season is becoming an unpleasant and dangerous place,” Yaroslavsky said in a letter to N. Matthew Grossman, president of the Coliseum Commission.

Grossman did not return phone calls Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for Spectacor, the private concern that operates the Coliseum, said there are no immediate plans to change the alcohol policy at the stadium.

“We don’t think it’s fair to deprive the thousands of people who enjoy beer at the game because of an isolated incident,” said Alisa Stilman, Spectacor spokeswoman.

The current policy bars fans from bringing liquor into the stadium and permits the purchase of only two beers at a time. No beer is served after the third quarter of a football game.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner strongly condemned the attack on the Steelers fan and vowed that it will be “dealt with so severely” that it would not happen again.

Reiner said that if Geringer is convicted, “We’ll make an example out of him. Maybe that’ll help a bit. If people get the idea (that) if they get drunk, and in a fight, they just won’t be thrown out (of the Coliseum) but (be) put in jail, and not just for a weekend.”