After the 2022 Elton John Concert, two men accused of brutal attacks in the Dodgers Stadium parking lot, earned a battery and vandalism fee after a four-week trial.
Ju umpire on Thursday discovered Chad Reeves, 44, and Reese Hopkin, 40. The battery was not indicted for seriously injured Jaime and Lillian Grenfell, a couple in their 60s. Hopkin was also found to be innocent of vandalism related to a broken bystander’s mobile phone during the incident.
The pair were charged in 2023 after the November 17, 2022 incident video went viral.
Prosecutors alleged that Hopkin and Reeves attacked the couple after they attacked Reeves when the side mirrors of the couple’s Chevrolet Tahoe were moving away from the beginning of three sold-out performances.
Jaime Grenfell was seriously injured and was unconsciously knocked by Hopkin. Prosecutors also alleged that Hopkin grabbed the phone of a man recording the case and threw it to the ground.
At the trial, the defense attorney said the video showed only a portion of the case. Reeves’ lawyer, Glenn Jonas, claimed the viral video was “edited” and that Jaime Grenfell “attacked” Reeves and the woman, but that was not shown in the video.
They claimed that Reeves came to Jessica Santi’s defense after Grenfell began an argument with her. In their story, Grenfels’ SUV mirror strikes Reeves, which leads to a cry, and then Gimé Grenfel escapes from the SUV and comes towards Santi, first attacking Reeves.
As for Hopkin, the lawyers allegedly involved in the conflict only when his wife, Lindsay Hopkin, was allegedly assaulted.
Jonas said the evidence presented by him and his lawyers Rafi Manuelian and Dylan Patel showed Hopkin was knocked out with a punch in the face as the victim tried to re-engage the conflict.
“These two innocent men — Reeves and Hopkin — were falsely charged by the District Attorney’s Office for refusing to look at the case objectively,” Jonas blames the former Dist, and Atty. George Gascon for the accusation.
“The big picture is that ordinary people can manipulate the public and the entire media with the Pitchfork mob mentality against innocent people, and that’s what the District Attorney’s Office comes with,” Jonas said.
Manurian, who represented Hopkin, told City News Service after the verdict it was a proof for family members. “It’s all about context,” he said. “Don’t judge people based on what you see on social media.”
Grenfell sued Reeves, Hopkin and the Dodgers over the incident, claiming there was insufficient security that night. In the lawsuit, Jaime Grenfell alleges that he and his wife “resulted in head injuries from assault and other conspiracy and wounds, and witnessed the assault and the resulting injury of her husband.”
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