Sitting through your favorite team's fourth preseason game can be painful. But do you know what hurts even more? Getting hit by a bolt from a retractable roof that falls into the crowd while you're trying to watch the game.
That's exactly what happened last night when a single bolt managed to injure not one, not two, but three fans during the Bengals/Coltsgame at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. The Colts attempted to use their retractable roof just before halftime so that the second half of the game could be played with it open. However, when they did, a bolt from the roof was sheared off and dropped down into the crowd, injuring the three fans in the process. None of the fans were seriously injured, but two of them did have to be taken to a local hospital for evaluation.
"The roof was in the process of being opened for the second half of the preseason game," Barney Levengood, the executive director of the Capital Improvement Board of Managers, said in a statement released late last night. "A bolt from the fixed structure sheared and dropped into seating section 248. The movement of the roof was stopped immediately and stadium authorities were notified. On-site medical personnel deemed all injuries to be non-life threatening. One female and one male were attended to by I.U. Health medical personnel and then transported to a local hospital for further evaluation. The third person was a male who was treated and released on site."
Ironically enough, the Colts were the team that pushed for a new rule in the offseason that now allows NFL teams to open their retractable roofs during games. It has obviously already become problematic, though, and the team is lucky that this incident wasn't way worse than it was. The bolt was reportedly only about the size of a roll of quarters, but it could have done really some serious damage. So maybe it's time to take that rule back off the books? Just a thought.
Send all complaints, compliments, and tips to sportstips@complex.com.
[via Eye on Football]
