brawl

A bloodied female and her male companion were escorted out of SoFi Stadium during the fourth quarter of the Rams season opener Sunday along with two other spectators who had engaged in the same violent altercation.

The woman and her companion were wearing jerseys of the Houston Texans, who the Rams defeated 14-9. Video clips on social media showed her face covered with blood when security guards led her from Section 428 high above the end zone.

The incident appeared to begin with words and shoving between the woman in the No. 99 jersey of retired Texans legend JJ Watt and a woman wearing a Rams jersey. The altercation escalated, with the man wearing the No. 7 jersey of Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud pouring a cup of beer on the head of the woman in the Rams jersey.

Two men in Rams jerseys one row above the brawl stood and began shoving and grabbing the two Texans fans until security personnel arrived about two minutes into the incident.

The two men from the row above removed their jerseys — one of former Rams great Aaron Donald and the other of Rams receiver Puka Nacua — but additional security personnel arrived, handcuffed both men and escorted them away.

SoFi Stadium, which opened in 2020, has been plagued by brawls. Oakland chef Daniel Luna was in a medically induced coma for weeks after Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics discovered him lying on the ground in the stadium’s Lot L during the NFC Championship Game between the Rams and San Francisco 49ers.

It took three days and an inquiry from The Times before Inglewood authorities acknowledged the incident. Bryan Alexis Cifuentes, 33, was charged with one felony count of battery with serious bodily injury after video showed that he dropped Luna with one punch. Cifuentes pleaded not guilty and investigators determined that Luna started the altercation when he shoved Cifuentes.

Luna sued the Rams and L.A. County, claiming that because he was drunk deputies should have put him in a form of protective custody after he was denied entrance to the stadium because he didn’t have a ticket.

The suit was dismissed by Inglewood Superior Court Judge Ronald F. Frank, who wrote that “the Sheriff’s Department did not create the peril in which plaintiff found himself. [Luna] alleges that he was already inebriated when he was detained initially. The sheriffs took no affirmative action which contributed to, increased, or changed the risk which would have otherwise existed.”

At least four fights have broken out at Chargers games at SoFi Stadium. The most recent was a brawl in a game against the Raiders in September 2024. A video provided to KTLA shows showed a group of Chargers fans fighting a shirtless man.

Moments before the Chargers and Dallas Cowboys squared off at SoFi in 2023, the teams scuffled at midfield after several Cowboys ran through the Chargers’ defensive backs as they were conducting pregame drills.

Several fights broke out off the field during the game, including one on a concourse exit that involved a dozen or more fans. No fans were arrested, according to the Inglewood Police Department.

After a game between the Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs in November 2022, a man was thrown over a railing. A person who recorded a video of the incident told KABC-TV Channel 7 that the fight began after one man bumped into another. A third man tried to intervene and was thrown over the railing onto the concrete steps below.

A 2022 poll of more than 3,000 fans by Sportsbook Review concluded that many NFL stadiums are more violent than SoFi Stadium and that fans generally feel safe attending games at the venue.

Crimes in and around stadiums occur all too often, with 39.2% of poll respondents reporting having witnessed or fallen victim to at least one crime in or outside a stadium. Only 5.4% of fans had witnessed a crime at SoFi, and only one of those polled said they had been a victim of a crime while attending a Rams or Chargers home game.

Sportsbook Review updated its rankings last week, with SoFi moving up from the 15th to the 11th most dangerous NFL stadium. M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens, is ranked as the most dangerous; Highmark Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills, is ranked as the safest.

TRAITORS star Harry Clark has broken his silence after being booted off SAS: Who Dares Wins for cheating.

It was a humbling moment for the ex-Army lad, who has now admitted he “hated” his time on the Channel 4 show.

Directing staff Billy Billingham and Jason Fox caught Harry out performing only 10 burpee exercises when he’d been challenged to do 20 – then lied about it.

He was meant to complete the set before pulling a switch.

Harry said: “Obviously I was so disheartened and so annoyed, but at the same time in the back of my head I was like, ‘but it’s all right though because I’ve made that switch, I’m here to stay’.

“I did exactly what I would do in the military.

“And that’s what annoyed me so much because it was like I just hit that switch, but they’d kicked me off for it.

“So it was like, well then how can I prove to you now that I’ve changed?

“But then at the same time, when I look back on it and I’ve matured a lot now, they’ve probably done me a favour because I know that the next big stage was the interrogation phase.”

The show was filmed in September last year.

Celebrities always dread the interrogation segment and many crumble.

Harry added: “The place where I was mentally and physically, I would’ve definitely been broken down easy. I was easy pickings.

“So I think they actually done me a favour kicking me off the show, they probably saw that I needed to go and sort myself out.

“I didn’t like the experience that much, personally, it made me angry at them and myself that I wanted to get better.

“I felt like they didn’t like me.

“I absolutely hated it while I was there.

“I just want people to be able to look at me now and think that is a completely different person.”

The episode of Harry’s exit aired as The Sun revealed he had got into a shocking brawl at the Brits Awards with a Tiktok star.

Harry is said to have had a “drunken scuffle” with Moe Osman at the glitzy bash in March.

Sources close to Harry say he retaliated after being “antagonised” by the influencer, who goes by the username of Hellacreps online.

Harry was an Army helicopter engineer for seven years but left the forces following his Traitors win.

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‘Nobody helped’

‘Taken by surprise’

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‘Quite aggressive’

‘Not a complicated case’

Los Angeles County is poised to pay nearly $2.7 million to a teenager whose violent beating at a juvenile hall launched a sprawling criminal investigation into so-called “gladiator fights” inside the troubled facility.

Video of the December 2023 beating, captured on CCTV, showed Jose Rivas Barillas, then 16, being pummeled by six juveniles at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall as probation officers stood idly by. Each youth attacked Rivas Barillas for a few seconds before returning to breakfast. Two officers, later identified as longtime probation officials Taneha Brooks and Shawn Smyles, laughed and shook hands, encouraging the brawl.

“What made this unique is the video,” said Rivas Barillas’ attorney, Jamal Tooson, who said his client suffered a broken nose and traumatic brain injury. “The entire world got to witness the brutality that’s taking place with our children at the hands of the Los Angeles County Probation Department.”

The video, first reported by The Times, prompted a criminal investigation by the state attorney general’s office, which later charged 30 probation officers — including Brooks and Smyles — with allowing and encouraging fights among teens inside county juvenile halls. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta referred to the coordinated brawls as “gladiator fights” and said his office’s CCTV review had turned up 69 such fights during the chaotic first six months after the hall opened in July 2023.

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Footage obtained by the L.A. Times shows a December 2023 incident in which staffers can be seen allowing at least six youths to hit and kick a 17-year-old.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors will vote on whether to approve the $2.67-million settlement to Rivas Barillas and his mother, Heidi Barillas Lemus.

According to a public summary of the “corrective action plan” that the Probation Department must produce before a large settlement, officials failed to review CCTV video of the fight and waited too long to transport the teen to a hospital and notify his family.

CCTV monitors are now “staffed routinely,” and officials are working on conducting random audits of the recordings, according to the plan. A spokesperson for the Probation Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Immediately after Rivas Barillas arrived at the Downey juvenile hall, Brooks demanded to know his gang affiliation, according to the claim filed with the county. Brooks said she had heard that Rivas Barillas, who is Latino, was from the “Canoga” gang and that she “hoped he could fight” before directing the other juveniles, all of whom were Black, to attack him in the day room, the claim stated.

After the video made headlines, accounts of teens forced by probation officers to fight have trickled out of Los Padrinos. A teen told The Times in March that officers at Los Padrinos rewarded him with a fast-food “bounty” — In-N-Out, Jack in the Box, McDonald’s — if he beat up kids who misbehaved. The teenager, who had previously been housed in the same unit as Rivas Barillas, said staffers would also organize fights when someone arrived who was thought to be affiliated with a gang that didn’t get along with the youths inside.

“We get a new kid, he’s from the hood. We have other hoods in here. We’re going to get all the fights out of the way,” he said at the time. “They were just setting it up to control the situation.”

Another teenager, identified in court filings as John (Lohjk) Doe, alleged in a lawsuit filed in February that soon after arriving at Los Padrinos in 2024, he was escorted by an officer to the day room. The officer, identified only by the surname Santos, told a youth inside the day room that “you have eleven (11) seconds” and watched as the youth attacked Doe, according to the lawsuit.

On another occasion, the same officer threatened to pepper-spray Doe if he didn’t fight another youth for 20 seconds. The teens who fought were rewarded with extra television and more time out of their cells, the suit alleged.

After the teen told a female officer about the two coordinated brawls, he was transferred to solitary confinement, the suit alleged.

Times staff writer James Queally contributed to this report.

WATCH the shocking moments a brawl erupts between Manchester United and Tottenham fans as punches get thrown ahead of the Europa League final.

Up to 70,000 Man Utd and Tottenham fans have flooded the streets of sunny Bilbao in good spirits and with drinks flowing.

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However, the mood took a dark turn with footage surfacing on X of a brawl between the two sets of supporters.

In the shocking video, a large group of football hooligans are seen brawling as they throw objects and punches at each other.

Residents alerted authorities at around 9.20pm after they witnessed violent behaviour on Fermín Calbetón Street.

Witnesses say the fight broke out when two large groups of supporters began shouting and hurling insults,

It quickly escalated into a full-blown brawl, with both Man Utd and Spurs fans grabbing whatever they could to throw at each other.

One hooligan overturned a terrace table and used it as a weapon against the other group.

Drinks and bins were also hurled, creating a chaotic scene that posed a serious risk to local businesses and passersby.

Several local police patrols rushed to the scene after reports of the brawl and quickly restored order.

No arrests have been made so far, but officers have stayed in the area to keep the situation under control.

An ambulance was also dispatched, with several people treated at the scene.

However, after further assessment, staff determined no one needed to be taken to the hospital.

It comes as tens of thousands of Brits landed in Bilbao ahead of the highly anticipated final.

Some are braving an epic 32-hour-plus ferry ride which set sail at 10pm on Sunday evening and won’t arrive until 8am on Tuesday morning.

With flights to Spain rocketing over £1,000 after the Prem teams sealed their final spots, many took advantage of the cheaper sea-route option, which set them back £260 for a cabin.

The sky-high air prices are due to just six direct flights from Britain to the Basque region’s industrial port city each day.

And with only 65 hotels in Spain’s tenth largest city, accommodation has been fully booked for weeks.

Each club has millions of fans across the globe, but since there are just 14,000 tickets allocated to each team, bagging a seat to the showpiece event has been a tricky task.

Last night, precious tickets to the big game were selling on the black market for up to £10,000.

EasyJet was charging £1,823 to fly from Gatwick to Bilbao on Wednesday morning and return on Thursday morning, while the cheapest hotels for Wednesday night cost around £1,200.

But for those fans who managed to snap up the golden tickets, footage has shown them enjoying themselves.

A Bilbao bar was flooded with Brit fans chanting and drinking ahead of the anticipated final.

Spurs fans were also seen welcoming the team bus as it arrived in the city one day before the clash.

Footage taken by The Sun showed fans arriving to fill the streets of Bilbao about 40 hours before kick-off.

Both sets of supporters have been pictured marching through the streets, chanting songs with beers in hand as they gear up for the Europa League final.

Footie fanatics get the party started early

By Sun man in Bilbao, Dave Courtnadge

IT’S barely midday in Bilbao on the day before the Europa League final between Manchester United and Spurs – but it’s already getting lively.

I arrived in the city at about 9am after a 32-HOUR ferry ride from Portsmouth.

And the first thing a lot of fellow fans planned to do was find a pub for a well-earned drink.

Walking around the area around the San Mames stadium this morning, a fair few others had the same idea.

Many have had long journeys, stopping off overnight in another city to keep down the soaring cost of getting here, with some direct flights over £1,000.

So it’s no surprise many are already getiing the party started, or the Bilbao leg of the party anyway.

Spurs fan Gary, who flew out from London before an overnight stay in a Madrid hotel resembling a “prison cell”, joked as he supped a pint in the sun: “I’m just getting some practice in for tomorrow.”

The atmosphere has been brilliant so far, and hopefully that will continue.

There had been claims that Spurs fans are set to outnumber United fans by 5 to 1, with an estimated 50,000 supporters of the two English sides expected to arrive.

One Tottenham follower I spoke to joked that they had bought all the flights out of London to keep the Reds out.

Based on the number of Spurs shirts I’ve already seen, he might be right.

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