At least someone found a use for a major-league ballpark during the owner-initiated lockout. San Diego police arrested a man for suspicion of felony vandalism at Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres, on Friday. He was joyriding in the stadium and doing doughnuts on the field in his SUV, according to Alex Riggins of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The man entered the stadium through a tunnel near the Western Metal Supply Company building in left field. The grounds crew blocked his exit until police arrived. Here’s the joyrider in action:
“After about a minute, he came to a stop, and a bunch of the grounds crew guys made their way to the car and did like a citizens’ arrest,” Ryan Carlson, a bystander who witnessed and filmed the incident, told Riggins. “It happened peacefully, wasn’t aggressive, at least as far as I saw. They walked him over and sat him down.”
Despite the lockout, the field at Petco Park is currently being converted back to baseball. The stadium hosted several offseason events, including concerts and motorsports, as it does every year.
The first week of spring training games have already been postponed by the ongoing lockout. MLB and the MLBPA are planning to meet every day this coming week in an effort to reach an agreement and avoid delaying Opening Day.
