With less than one week of searching for the bottle-throwing fan, the police have reached a breakthrough after the culprit turned himself in to clarify the accusations. Philadelphia police have been looking for the fan after he was spotted throwing a beer bottle made of aluminum at Ryan Howard, the first baseman of Philadelphia Phillies team. This unfortunate occurrence took place earlier this month as soon as the game between the Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers had ended in Citizens Bank Park. Even with online MLB sports betting odds favoring the Phillies before the game, fans must have been outraged due to their loss.
The 21-year-old fan, now positively identified as Sidney Smith, comes from Wilmington, Delaware. According to Philadelphia Police, on Friday, Smith made the bold decision to surrender himself to detectives after news about his warrant of arrest reached him. In a statement, the police acknowledged that the detectives released Smith after issuing him with a summary citation for disorderly conduct.
According to the investigators, many cameras around the Citizens Bank Park stadium captured Smith tossing an empty beer bottle at Howard as he left the grounds. The longstanding Phillies player was approaching the dugout after losing their game on June 4 against the Milwaukee Brewers. Many fans felt they could have done better than losing with a 6-3 score line.
Even though Howard was not hit or injured by the Bud Light Lime bottle, the player expressed his sentiments about the incident, terming it as personal. Howard has played for the Phillies since 2004, and even propelled them to winning their 2008 World Series championship. He has been a pivotal player in the Phillies squad, and the bottle-throwing incidence sparked rage among many players, fans, and officials. Even with Howard striking .150 this season, he reacted to the incident by telling Philly.com that if fans desired to shout at him, “You suck”, that does not affect him in any way.
However, he clearly expressed his outrage about Smith throwing a bottle at him, saying that such a demeaning act eventually becomes personal. According to police reports, Smith found his way out of the Citizens Bank Park on his own, just like any other fan, without any member of the Phillies’ security stopping or ejecting him for further questioning. However, Phillies’ head of security reported the matter to Philadelphia Police the next day.
Even though it looked like Smith had aimed the bottle at the Phillies player, he did not strike Howard, and the incident did not cause any kind of physical harm in the end. Smith left the stadium willingly, with the Phillies security not noticing him at all. One day after the horrifying incident, the Phillies reported the matter to the police through their Director of Security at around at 12:45p.m. on June 5.
Exactly six days later, the ‘fugitive’ fan turned up at the South Detective Division in Philadelphia, to turn himself in with regard to the incident. The police released Smith after issuing him with a Summary Citation for Disorderly Conduct. According to the Police, at the end of the match, Sidney Smith hurled a beer bottle onto the playing field as Howard walked towards the dugout.
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