Fan Pleads Guilty to 'Throwing the Football' in Chargers Stadium Parking Lot, Gets $280 Fine Dismissed

Fan Pleads Guilty to 'Throwing the Football' in Chargers Stadium Parking Lot, Gets $280 Fine Dismissed

A San Diego Chargers fan was fined $280 for throwing a football in the parking lot of Qualcomm Stadium, the stadium where the Chargers play. Cops gave Jesse Unger a $60 ticket last month before the Chargers-Colts game for throwing the football in the parking lot while he was tailgating, but he realized the ticket was $280 when he looked it up online. That is when Unger decided to challenge the ticket. 

According to U-T San Diego:

The actual law, per San Diego Municipal Code 59.0502, says that one cannot “intentionally throw, discharge, launch or spill any solid object (including footballs, baseballs, frisbees and other such devices) or liquid substance or otherwise cause subject or substance to be thrown, discharged, launched, spilled, or to become airborne.”

And according to Unger, the judge said that the law was in place for the sake of public safety – that footballs flying everywhere posed a danger to drivers navigating the lot.

The judge said that he would suspend the fine if Unger pleaded guilty to “throwing the football.”

“I plead guilty to throwing the football, Your Honor,” Unger told the judge. 

Unger told U-T San Diego that the Judge dismissed the ticket and then started talking about San Diego’s running game. 

Three other stadiums in the NFL have similar rules for tailgaters: “LP Field in Tennessee, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, and CenturyLink Field in Seattle.”

photo credit: KPMG

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