Sources: Chiefs ID, ban fan for laser on Brady
The fan who shined a laser on Patriots quarterback Tom Brady during the AFC Championship Game has been identified, apprehended, banned from Arrowhead Stadium for life and soon will face charges from the Kansas City district attorney, league sources told ESPN.
After a Kansas City television station identified a fan shining a laser on Brady, Chiefs officials quickly worked to identify the fan by using videotape and eyewitnesses.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft wants to keep the team’s “symmetry” and “chemistry” intact and is open to signing quarterback Tom Brady to another contract extension.
The NFL says it will look into a report that a laser was flashed at Patriots quarterback Tom Brady during the fourth quarter Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.
“There’s a lot of pride in Kansas City, and we and our fans thought, ‘You don’t do that here,'” one Chiefs official told ESPN.
The Kansas City police department initially wanted to cite the fan with disorderly conduct, but Chiefs officials didn’t feel those charges were strong enough and instead have been pushing for “the harshest penalty possible,” in the words of one source.
The Chiefs want this incident to deter fans from pointing a laser at players at future games, a violation that has more serious ramifications than many realize. Since last month’s conference title game, members of the military have reached out to Brady to inform him that the lasers shined near his face could cause irreversible eye damage, according to another source.
One day after New England’s overtime victory in Kansas City, a league spokesman confirmed that the NFL would look into the incident. A cameraman from Kansas City station KMBC shot video that showed a green dot flickering around Brady’s shoulder and face.
Our photographer, Turner Twyman, caught someone pointing what appears to be a laser pointer in Tom Brady’s face last night. Play between the “muff” that wasn’t and Sorensen int. @NFL, @Patriots and @Chiefs all told me they weren’t aware of the incident. pic.twitter.com/ejWBQ6i64C
Lasers are prohibited at NFL games, and security at Sunday’s Super Bowl will be checking for them.
The NFL has dealt with the issue of lasers in the past, including a Monday night game in Mexico two years ago in which then-Texans quarterback Brock Osweiler was targeted multiple times.
ESPN’s Mike Reiss contributed to this report.