By Justin Berton
San Francisco Chronicle
LOS ANGELES — It could take several more days before Los Angeles police present evidence to prosecutors against the primary suspect in the March 31 beating of a Giants fan outside Dodger Stadium, Police Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday.
“I have a very difficult case here,” Beck said at a news conference, five days after officers arrested Giovanni Ramirez, 31, during a raid on an East Hollywood apartment. “It was seven weeks before we made that arrest, and we still have a lot to do. I can’t jeopardize the case by giving out any more information.”
On Wednesday, investigators included Ramirez in a police lineup for witnesses who saw the attack on Bryan Stow, 42, a Santa Cruz paramedic who was beaten and kicked in the stadium parking lot after attending the Opening Day game between the Giants and Dodgers.
Beck said investigators were “satisfied” with the results of the lineup, and said his department had “an abundance” of evidence beyond witness accounts that Ramirez was involved in the beating.
Ramirez has been booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon — his hands and feet.
His attorney, Anthony Brooklier said Thursday that Ramirez had been with his 10-year-old daughter the day of the game and had several people who could vouch for him.
“We’ve got more than just an alibi,” Brooklier said. “We have an innocent man. And in the wake of all this tragedy, the only thing that could make it worse is to arrest and charge the wrong guy.”
Brooklier, who was present during the lineup, said his client offered to take a polygraph test.
The attorney also said Ramirez, who is being held on a parole violation, is entitled to a parole hearing June 4 if the district attorney has not filed charges. Ramirez is on parole for a 2005 conviction for being a felon in possession of a gun.
Stow remains unconscious with a brain injury at San Francisco General Hospital. Police are still looking for two suspects in the attack — a man believed to have joined in kicking and punching Stow, and a woman who drove the assailants from the scene.
Giovanni Ramirez, a key suspect in the beating of Bryan Stow, participated in a police lineup.