Cops: Fan Killed Over Spilled Drink

PHILADELPHIA - Two men have been charged in the beating death of a man near Citizens Bank Park over the weekend, a third suspect has surrendered, and parts of the fight were caught on surveillance tape, police said Monday.

Killed was 22-year-old David Sale, of Lansdale, who had gone to Saturday afternoon's Phillies-Cardinals game with a bachelor party for an upcoming wedding.

Charged with murder and related offenses are Jim Grove, 45, of the 800 block of East Almond Street, and Charles Bowers, 35, of the 6100 block of Bustleton Avenue. Both were arrested at the scene, police said.

Police also issued a warrant Monday afternoon for 28-year-old Francis Kirchner (pictured, far right) of the 1200 block of East Palmer Street.

Kirchner then turned himself in at police headquarters shortly before 6 p.m.

According to police, Sale's group of eight had gone to the ballpark for a bachelor party.

The other group of about 60 people were part of a bus trip from a Fishtown establishment's police identified as Moe's Tavern.

Members of the two groups wound up fighting at McFadden's Restaurant & Saloon (which is built into the ballpark but has a separate entrance). When security tossed the combatants out onto the street, words continued being exchanged until the fighting escalated again in a parking lot at 7th Street and Pattison Avenue.

When police arrived to break up the fight they began arresting the 30 to 40 participants and taking in witnesses. But officers found Sale unconscious and hurt on the ground.

He died within an hour at a hospital.

Another 36-year-old man was also injured, but he was treated and released from Methodist Hospital.

Philadelphia Police Homicide Unit Capt. James Clark said Monday, "There is some surveillance showing the altercation inside of the bar and some of it right outside of the bar. As far as the actual killing, we're still downloading a lot of video so we're not sure of that as of yet."

Clark said all three of the suspects were allegedly beating Sale.

"At first one of the individuals was holding him like in a headlock while the other two were beating him," Clark said. "He went down to the ground sort of on all fours, and then they started kicking him and stomping him until he went unconscious. And even after that, we have information they continued to kick and stomp him until he was motionless."

As for what started it all, Clark said, "It was over a spilled drink. Someone spilled a drink on someone, bumped into someone -- it was apparently very crowded in there. From there, it escalated into a war of words and a physical altercation. They were all ejected, and you had a beating and subsequent killing outside of the bar."

Police said it did appear Sale was involved somehow in the original bump and drink spilling.

For the 22-year-old's friends and family, this season won't be remembered for the Phillies' play but for his terrible death just outside the gates of the ballpark, as the crowd was cheering another team win.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey called it "behavior that's just not acceptable under any circumstances, all over a spilled beer. I mean, when you stop and think about it, it just makes absolutely no sense for something like that to ever happen.

"It's just one example of the kind of senseless violence that we deal with here," the police commissioner said. "It's just ignorant, is what it is."

Ramsey noted that he has previously proposed legislation to city council that would require a licensed bar to contact police if a fight begins there and moves outside.

"If police had been called early on, odds are we would have gotten there, been there long enough to make sure that it truly broke up and you wouldn't have the escalation," he said.

Fans attending Sunday afternoon's game also reflected on what happened.

"Nothing justifies that – nothing," said one fan, Hank Clarke. "I don't care what the man did. Nothing justifies that. It's a baseball game. It's a game."

"That we come out here and people come out here and somebody actually gets killed, it's really sad," said another fan, Scott Bentz.

"It amazes me how something can escalate that quickly into someone has to lose their life over it," said a third fan, Maryellen Corazo. "I can't imagine what kind of argument broke out that it made someone lose their life over it. You know, it's just sad."

A veteran homicide detective told Fox 29 News that he expects the three men's eventual defense to be self-defense, if witnesses say the suspects were just fighting back against the man who eventually died.