L.A. faces pre-Olympics security test with World Series and mega lineup of sports events

Los Angeles is expecting a heightened security atmosphere Friday as the city plays host to several high-profile sporting events, with simultaneous football, basketball and baseball games, presenting something of a dry run for the upcoming World Cup and Olympic Games.

Large crowds are expected for the Lakers’ second home game of the season at Crypto.com Arena, as well as at the Memorial Coliseum, where USC football will take on Rutgers.

Friday will also see the the annual East L.A. Classic between Garfield and Roosevelt high schools with a halftime concert by the Black Eyed Peas. Announced ticket sales for the game at SoFi Stadium have nearly reached 13,000, which would be the largest crowd for a high school football game in California this year.

But the most attention will be paid to Game 1 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium.

Speaking to reporters at a Thursday morning news conference, Mayor Karen Bass said that she activated the city’s emergency response center to ensure a coordinated effort.

“With all of these events in town over the next few days, consider this practice for what will be coming in years in town,” she said. “Our message is: L.A. is ready.”

After the Dodgers defeated the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series, Bass said she directed city departments “to take action to prepare, to ensure Angelenos are safe, traffic is addressed swiftly and to make sure that Angelenos who might not be able to go to the actual games will still get to safely experience the World Series at watch parties around the city.”

LAPD interim Chief Dominic Choi said that city residents should expect increased traffic and encouraged them to take public transportation if possible.

City agencies will also be on heightened alert as during other major sporting events and award shows. The Los Angeles Fire Department is staging personnel at a command center at Dodger Stadium, but doesn’t anticipate bringing in extra bodies, according to spokesman Brian Humphrey.

“We’re not expecting any major occurrences, but we are prepared for them,” he said.

Experts say the LAPD and the Sheriff’s Department will also work closely with the FBI to monitor potential threats. The Department of Homeland Security may also be involved, with the same agencies assisting during the 2028 Olympic games and 2026 World Cup.

Extra patrols are expected at major transit hubs, along with K9 officers, the bomb squad and mobile response units capable of reaching most locations within 10 minutes. With department staffing down, captains from the police department’s 21 geographical divisions are being asked to chip in officers; more bodies are also being drawn from some specialized units.

Police will also keep a closer eye on specific locations around the city — in downtown, the East Side and the east San Fernando Valley — where fans have traditionally congregated following big sports victories. Occasionally, such celebrations have turned into violence.

Following the Lakers’ 2010 NBA World Championship victory, dozens of arrests were made as crowds spilled onto the streets of downtown L.A., looting businesses, attacking bystanders and setting fires. Lakers victories in 2009 and 2000 also sparked unrest.

The department has been criticized for its heavy-handed response to those celebrations, with officers being accused of firing less-lethal rounds indiscriminately into crowds, injuring protesters and costing the city millions in settlement payouts.

Dodger Stadium and its grounds also have a long history of physical altercations, including fistfights between drunken fans, fan-on-fan attacks that left people with severe injuries, and beatings by security personnel.

Over the last 15 years, fans who were hurt in such altercations have filed a series of lawsuits against the team and their assailants. Some fans were awarded thousands or millions of dollars in damages, and fans and security guards have been found liable for violent crimes and wrongdoing in connection with the incidents.

One of the most highly publicized cases concerned the vicious beating of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow following an opening day Dodgers-Giants game in March 2011. Two fans in Dodgers jerseys were convicted of drunkenly attacking Stow in a parking lot outside Dodger Stadium, punching and kicking the father of two, fracturing his skull and leaving him with brain damage and in a coma for nine months.

A jury unanimously ruled in 2014 that because of poor security and insufficient lighting in the parking lot, the Dodgers shared responsibility for the beating with the two assailants, who were sentenced to federal prison. The jurors ordered the team to pay Stow $13.9 million in damages.

In 2015, a Dodgers fan was beaten and sustained a traumatic brain injury following a postseason game between the Dodgers and the Mets. Ariel D. Auffant was attacked after the game as he was walking outside the stadium with a group of people including a cousin of Auffant’s, who was wearing a Mets hat.

Auffant and his wife, Abigale, sued the Dodgers and the two people who they said attacked them. The case was settled in 2020 for an undisclosed amount.

In August, a lawsuit against the Dodgers filed by Rafael Reyna — a fan who was beaten by multiple people in a Dodger Stadium parking lot and hospitalized with a brain injury in 2019 — was also settled for an undisclosed amount.

In another incident this summer, a brawl broke out in the stands at Dodger Stadium after two fans threw beer at one another during a Dodgers-Red Sox game.

The Dodgers and the security personnel who work their games have repeatedly been found liable of acting inappropriately after guards roughed up fans, in some cases causing severe injuries. Attendees have filed a series of lawsuits over the past decade, alleging that they were mistreated and hurt by security workers.

In February, a jury awarded $108,500 in compensation to Daniel Antunez, who sued the Dodgers after he was beaten by security personnel after an argument over a spilled drink at a game in 2018. Security guards threw Antunez to the ground and fractured his ankle. The Dodgers were required to pay for medical expenses, pain and suffering and lost wages, but did not have to pay punitive damages.

In November, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge awarded Francisco Rodriguez of Riverside County $105,000 in damages in a suit against the Dodgers and security officer Erik Pena. Rodriguez alleged that Pena and other security guards beat him with a baton and fists as they ejected him from an opening day game against the Giants in 2018. Pena acted with malice, ruled the judge, who said the other guards did not engage in wrongdoing.

On a single day in 2022, three lawsuits were filed against the Dodgers alleging that the team’s security personnel acted violently toward fans in 2021. The suits sought unspecified damages and alleged that the guards committed a range of crimes, such as assault, battery and false imprisonment.

One of those suing was Salvador Mota, who alleged that he was “assaulted and battered” by security guards who had stopped his vehicle as he was attempting to leave the stadium. Court documents in the cases stated that the team’s security personnel included both “non-sworn persons” and off-duty LAPD officers.

Mota was hospitalized with severe injuries to his face, eye, arm and leg. His case has yet to be resolved.

“Dodgers fans demand that ownership immediately change the heavy-handed security policies at Dodger Stadium,” plaintiffs’ attorney Peter diDonato said in a statement at the time.

The Dodgers have in the past paid for uniformed LAPD officers in and around the stadium, but it’s unclear whether that arrangement will continue. Choi said the city attorney’s office was negotiating with the team about “reimbursement of resources even as of today,” while adding that “we have a great relationship with the Dodgers, and we historically always have.”

This comes as the city continues to ramp up its Olympic preparations. Over the summer, 32 LAPD reserve officers and a supervisor traveled to Paris as part of the Olympic delegation to work at event sites across the country, under the supervision of the French national police and the Gendarmerie. Bass, Choi and members of their respective staffs also made trips to France.