Penguins offer new details about plunge that critically injured fan at PPG Paints Arena

The Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday broke their silence and provided new details about a man’s 35-foot fall from the upper concourse of the arena during Monday night’s game, leaving him critically injured.

The team and Oak View Group, the venue’s managing partner, “can confirm the patron was not using the designated staircase at the time of the incident,” according to a joint statement. “And the safety barrier remained intact.”

A witness who said he was seated nearby in Section 234 told TribLive the man was working his way higher into the section, walking upward across rows of empty seats, when he fell.

“He started falling onto the bleachers, and every time he was trying to get his footing, he’d step on a seat and the seat would flip over,” Fabian Carrazana of Beechview told TribLive.

The man fell back toward the upper-level railing at the lip of the arena’s upper bowl, tumbling into a pane of glass, which cracked and gave way, Carrazana said.

Jennifer Bullano Ridgley, a Penguins spokeswoman, would not answer questions Thursday about the incident or the stadium’s steep pitch in its upper levels.

The prepared statement was released less than a day after TribLive reported Carrazana’s comments as well as concerns raised by spectators about the slope of parts of PPG Paints Arena.

The Penguins and Oak View Group said their “collective thoughts” are with the victim, who suffered “life-threatening” injuries. Authorities have not named the man.

The PPG Paints Arena incident was the third of its kind since April in Pittsburgh, following one each at PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium.

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