Man charged in fan beating death outside NFL game in Missouri

[February 22, 2014]  By Kevin Murphy

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) — A Missouri man was charged with involuntary manslaughter on Friday in the beating death of a football fan in the stadium parking lot outside a Kansas City Chiefs game.

Joshua Bradley, 25, is accused of striking Kyle Van Winkle, 30, multiple times after an argument on December 1, 2013 outside the National Football League game at Arrowhead Stadium in Missouri, the Jackson County prosecutor said in court records. He was released on $75,000 bond, according to court records.

The criminal charge comes a day after two men were sentenced to prison in California for the severe beating of a San Francisco Giants fan outside Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in 2011.

Van Winkle left the stadium during the game and went to a parked Jeep Cherokee that resembled the one he arrived in, according to a probable cause statement by Kansas City police.

But the vehicle belonged to another person, who found Van Winkle passed out inside and sought help getting him removed, according to police. Bradley, among others, responded and he argued with Van Winkle before punching him to the ground and then kept striking him, witnesses told police.

Van Winkle later died at a hospital. A medical examiner ruled his death a homicide by blunt trauma to the head and neck.

Bradley, of Independence, Missouri, made his first court appearance on Friday, but does not yet have a lawyer, according to court records. He will appear in court again on March 6.

(Reporting by Kevin Murphy; editing by Barbara Goldberg and G. Crosse)

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