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Assaulted baseball fan readies for hospital transfer

By Michael Martinez, CNN
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow, 42, is in a coma after a severe beating
  • He was beaten after attending a Giants game at Los Angeles Dodgers Stadium
  • His assailants are still being sought

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Bryan Stow, the San Francisco Giants fan who was severely beaten outside Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium in late March, is now stabilized enough to be transferred from Los Angeles to a San Francisco hospital, his physicians said Friday.

Stow, 42, still remains in a coma in critical condition, but he will be transferred to San Francisco General and Trauma Center as early as Monday morning so he can be closer to home and family, said spokeswoman Rose Saca of the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center.

His family expressed elation on their website, which has been chronicling his medical struggles.

"The day has finally come! Bryan is now stable enough to bring home up north," the family said Friday. "We are happy we get to bring Bryan home.

"Bryan has been responsive to stimulation, and while he doesn't do it on command, his eyes have been opening. He doesn't focus, but Dr. (Gabriel) Zada said it was something. We had not been getting eye movement, except within the past few days, with them opening today. Again, not sure if it's involuntary, but it's another 'we'll take it' moment," the family said.

The family described the pending transfer as "bittersweet" because "we have to leave all the wonderful people we have met on this journey" in Los Angeles, they said.

Authorities said Stow suffered severe head injuries in an unprovoked beating in a parking lot outside Dodger Stadium after a March 31 Dodgers-Giants baseball game, the season opener for both teams.

Two men approached him in the parking lot and began kicking and punching him while yelling profanities about the Giants, police said.

The attackers fled in a light-colored sedan driven by a woman with a young boy inside, authorities said. Police released composite sketches of the men, who they said were 18 to 25 years old. Officials are offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to arrests and convictions.

Stow, a father of two, is a paramedic who traveled from Santa Cruz, California, to make his first-ever visit to Dodgers Stadium. He went to the game with friends in celebration of the Giants' World Series victory last season, a relative said.