A lawsuit has been filed against both the Atlanta Braves and Major League Baseball by the family of a man who fell to his death from the upper deck of Turner Field last August.
Gregory Kent Murrey, 60, was watching the Braves play the New York Yankees on Saturday, August 29 from his second-row seat in Section 401, which is located in the upper deck.
The suit states that Murrey's death "could and should have been prevented if Turner Field had guardrails of at least 42 inches," which is an accepted industry standard. Murrey's family is seeking an unspecified amount of money as well as the Braves putting in place higher guardrails.
Included in the suit are computer-generated depictions which shows the guardrails at varying heights. In the depiction where the guardrail is 42 inches, the victim does not fall.
"From where Greg stood in the second row of the upper deck, the top of the 30-inch rail barely reached the level of Greg’s ankles," Murrey's family said in a statement released with the lawsuit. "As could happen to any baseball fan, Greg fell forward over the railing and dropped approximately 50 feet to his death."
The release goes on to point out a specific instance when a 13-year-old girl was killed by an "errant punk" at an National Hockey League game in 2002. The league responded by implementing mandatory netting at all arenas to protect spectators.
"Sadly, Major League Baseball has not been so quick to respond to incidents at its stadiums," the release says.
"MLB teams have known for decades that fans die or are seriously injured when guardrail heights around their stadiums' upper decks are too low."
The release then identifies six occasions when an individual has fallen at a MLB stadium going all the way back to 1994. After one of these incidents, the Texas Rangers raised the height of their railings to 42 inches.
The Braves have not commented on the lawsuit. They also will not provide specifics about what the height of the guardrails will be at Sun Trust Park, the Braves' new stadium opening in 2017.
Following Murrey's death in August, the Braves did say they are working with architects for improved safety.
"Ensuring the safety of our fans while in the ballpark has always been and will always be a priority for our organization," the Braves said in a statement back in August.
The Murrey Family said Greg's death is one that could have been prevented.
Instead of responding to the injuries and deaths of its fans, MLB and the Braves rejected the safety measures incorporated by the Texas Rangers and continued to rely upon dangerously low railings, placing their fans at grave risk. The Braves and other MLB clubs hid behind an exception to the 42-inch standard rail height contained in the 1929 version of the NFPA Building Exits Code in order to justify rails that are dangerously low. However, as numerous stadium experts have noted, that version of the 1929 code was based on providing sight lines for the seated patrons at theaters/opera houses, not sports arenas.
