Police charge 2 in LA beating

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

The investigation into the near-fatal beating of a San Francisco Giants fan on opening day at Dodger Stadium took a surprising turn Friday when prosecutors charged two new suspects and the police chief acknowledged officers initially arrested the wrong man.

The charges came nearly four months after the beating of Bryan Stow, a paramedic who suffered a brain injury and remains in serious condition.

Another man, Giovanni Ramirez, was arrested in May but wasn’t charged in the attack in a stadium parking lot.

For months, police Chief Charlie Beck had steadfastly maintained his confidence that Ramirez was the right suspect.

“In policing, it’s just as important to exonerate the innocent as it is to implicate the guilty,” Beck said Friday at a terse news conference. “I want to tell the world that Giovanni Ramirez is no longer a suspect in this case.”

Prosecutors charged Louie Sanchez, 29, and Marvin Norwood, 30, both of Rialto, with one count each of mayhem, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, and battery with serious bodily injury, all felonies. Both were being held on $500,000 bail after being arrested Thursday.

Beck did not provide details on the evidence against the two men but said more details would be released Monday.

“The Los Angeles Police Department never gave up on this case,” District Attorney Steve Cooley said in a prepared statement.

The attack has captured national attention as the Los Angeles Police Department and the Dodgers sought to ease fears about violence at the storied stadium.

Stow, 42, a resident of Santa Cruz and the father of two children, remained hospitalized in San Francisco. His family said in a blog post Friday that he appeared to mouth his last name and might have tried to give a thumbs-up.