Police identify alleged Blue Jays beer can thrower
Police have identified the fan who allegedly threw a beer onto the field in Toronto during Tuesday’s AL wild-card game, according to multiplereports.
Police released a photo Wednesday evening of the suspect who threw a can at Orioles leftfielder Hyun-Soo Kim from the stands during the seventh inning of the game. The man is Ken Pagan, a journalist who most recently at PostMedia — who, according to TSN’s Rick Westhead, declined to confirm him as an active employee. Westhead reports Pagan’s Twitter was deleted in the past 24 hours, and included posts from the game at Rogers Centre.
Kim was in the process of catching a fly ball when the wayward object was thrown onto the outfield grass and launched one of the biggest storylines of the night, second only to Baltimore’s decision not to use closer Zach Britton in a tight game.
The Toronto Sun, owned by PostMedia, reported Wednesday night that Pagan turned himself in to police. He has not been charged as of Wednesday. The Sun was offering a $1,000 reward for whoever gave up info on the perpetrator to aid police in his arrest.
Pagan suggested in an interview that there may be more to the story.
“I was drinking out of a cup,” Pagan told PostMedia, noting that Twitter photos that showed him after the can was tossed indicated he had a cup in his hand. “I’d love to tell you what happened and my story ... but I can’t say anything.”
In a video that has since been deleted, Twitter user Chris Tarroza did a small bit of legwork that shows where Pagan was sitting. A screenshot of that image is below.
Orioles centerfielder Adam Jones told reporters he heard racial slurs coming from the stands after the can was thrown.
The Blue Jays won the game on Edwin Encarnacion’s walk-off home run in extra innings, but public perception of the game and Blue Jays fans has been somewhat tarnished by the incident, angering many in Toronto, on the internet, and elsewhere.
The Blue Jays apologized to the Orioles for the incident in a statement.
