By Christine Byers, St. Louis Post-Dispatch –
ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Cardinals’ Manager Mike Matheny personally identified a 17-year-old boy as the fan he saw aim a green laser pointer at the opposing team’s pitcher during Monday night’s game against San Francisco in Busch Stadium, officials said.
The suspect was booked on suspicion of peace disturbance at an athletic event and released after posting a $150 bail early Tuesday, police Capt. Jerry Leyshock said.
The teen had been in a private suite, owned by Mercy Health, where police encountered resistance while investigating the incident, according to Leyshock. He heads the police stadium detail.
The presence of liquor apparently brought in from the outside may result in action against the box owner, a stadium official said Tuesday. There was no accusation that the boy or any minors had been drinking. Police said most of the occupants of the box were teens.
Police said they would ask the circuit attorney’s office Wednesday to file formal charges.
The suspect, of Ladue, Mo., could not be reached for comment.
A spokesperson for Mercy Health issued a statement that said: “We regret that this incident occurred, but because it is a police matter we cannot comment any further at this time. Mercy is conducting its own internal review of this unfortunate incident.”
Matheny said Tuesday he had never seen anything like it.
“One, Matt (Holliday) being distracted by a 90-mile-an-hour-plus fastball coming at him … you’ve got a chance to get a player hurt. And two, it’s a crazy world right now,” Matheny said. “You start seeing lasers and big crowds. I don’t think the kid knew the severity of what he was really doing. But there were a couple things that could have really gone bad there.
“It’s not like he did it the one time and said, ‘Ooh, that’s probably not a good idea.’ The whole dugout jumped up trying to find him and then he kept doing it.”
Leyshock and Joe Walsh, director of security and special services for the Cardinals, said there is no way to distinguish a prank from a gunman aiming a laser-equipped firearm. “Then when you go into what’s been going on in the country right now, it’s totally irresponsible to pretend you’ve got laser sights on somebody,” Walsh said.
