Northridge-Based Security Guard Suing USC After Football Stampede

A security guard who says he was hurt when USC football fans stampeded a stairwell after the Trojans’ win over Stanford University last year at the Coliseum is suing the university.

David P. Bueno’s lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, also names the Pac-12 Conference, the California Science Center, the NCAA, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, both the city and county of Los Angeles, the state and the California Natural Resources Agency.

Bueno is seeking unspecified damages.

A USC representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

According to the complaint, Bueno was part of the Northridge-based Contemporary Services Corp. security team that worked the Stanford-USC game last Nov. 16 at the Coliseum. Stanford was ranked fourth in the nation at the time and USC had not beaten the Cardinal in four years.

USC won the game on a field goal in the fourth quarter, 20-17. According to the suit, “exuberant fans stormed onto the field, creating a dangerous situation for everyone on the field, including players, officials and private security personnel.”

Bueno was one of three security guards manning stairs leading to the playing field. They were told to keep all fans other than those with special passes from descending the steps, according to the lawsuit.

”(Soto), along with numerous other people, was trampled by the crowd in its delirium, resulting in serious injuries to his head, his lungs, his cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral spinal areas, his right shoulder, as well as contusions all across his body,” the suit says.

A scenario such as that which unfolded after the contest between the Pac- 12 rivals was foreseeable, according to Soto’s court papers.

“USC should have anticipated the likelihood of excited fans storming the field after the game, particularly in the event of an upset win by USC,” the suit says.

--City News Service

PHOTO Patch file photo.