Friday October 7, 2016
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 7, 2016
Blue Jays beer-tossing incident: Who threw that brew?
Amateur sleuths have joined Toronto police in the investigation into who threw a can of beer that narrowly missed Baltimore Orioles outfielder Hyun Soo Kim at the Rogers Centre on Tuesday.
But, while police have named their suspect, the Internet is not so sure.
On Wednesday, police released a photo of an unnamed man who they said was the beer-thrower. That man turned out to be Ken Pagan, a journalist who works for Postmedia.
Pagan acknowledged being the man in the photo.
“I contacted Toronto police earlier this evening, around 7 p.m., and identified myself as the person in the photo,” Pagan wrote Wednesday night in an email to The Canadian Press, adding he “cannot say much else.”
That’s when the Internet kicked in with videos shared on Reddit and YouTube.
Starting from a wide-angle shot showing section 139 of the Rogers Centre, one video shows a silver streak crossing the frame. While it’s impossible to identify any faces in the video, Pagan is clearly identifiable when the grainy images are cross-referenced with photos shot by Canadian Press photographer Frank Gunn.
“Fairly clear video of him throwing it backhanded like a Frisbee,” wrote Twitter user Melanie Harrington.
Case closed?
Not quite.
Other photos of Pagan show him holding a plastic cup, not a can of beer.
Then more video surfaced, in which some people claim to see a woman hurling the brew before disappearing from the scene.
Both videos are so grainy, it’s almost impossible to deduce what is taking place exactly.
ther photos show a hole in the crowd just behind and to Pagan’s left, which some argued was the real thrower’s location. They suggest the villain ducked out of sight as soon as the sudsy shot was fired.
In the style of the infamous Zapruder film, both videos of the flying drink are grainy and difficult to make out.
Const. Jenifferjit Sidhu said Toronto police would not comment on the conflicting theories.
“However, we are confident we have made a positive ID and we will continue to work with the Rogers Centre to further the investigation,” Sidhu wrote in an email to the Star.
As of early Thursday afternoon, there was no word on charges against Pagan. (Source: Toronto Star)