GoFundMe created for victim of ‘senseless act of random violence’ at Luke Combs concert

Loved ones of a Missouri man who was severely beaten outside Arrowhead Stadium before a Luke Combs concert are raising money to help cover his medical expenses.

Johnathan Scaletty, 34, of Lee’s Summit, said he was randomly attacked Saturday evening by a group of adults who approached his car in the parking lot outside GEHA Field.

The father of two young sons suffered multiple breaks in his left ankle along with trauma to his neck and face. He also had multiple cuts across his body. On Tuesday, his wife, Brandi Scaletty, told The Star that her husband was in the hospital having his ankle reset for the third time.

As Scaletty awaits ankle surgery as the result of the “senseless act of random violence,” a GoFundMe was launched to aid his family financially. Scaletty has two young sons and works at the Ford assembly plant in Claycomo, according to the online fundraiser.

“The people who assaulted Johnny left him there bloody and beaten while they attended the concert and Johnny and Brandi left in an ambulance never attending the concert they were looking so forward to as they danced to a Luke Combs song as their first dance at their wedding,” the GoFundMe reads.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the GoFundMe totaled about $400.

The attack

The Scalettys splurged and spent about $1,000 on floor seats for the concert, leaving their little ones behind for a date night in the city.

But they never made it inside the stadium. Instead, Scaletty was battered and then abandoned by a group of strangers who first tried getting into his vehicle where he and his wife waited out a burst of rain.

At the same time, Philip White, 44, was with his wife and some friends a few rows down when he heard yelling. Then Tricia White saw a women run over to them, hysterical.

“She said it was the worst fight she’d seen in her entire life,” said Tricia White, 34.

Scaletty soon hobbled over and collapsed near their car, the Whites said. They knew immediately that he was in a lot of pain.

While the Scalettys called 911, so too did the Whites. Both couples, neither of whom knew each other before Saturday, said it seemed like they were on hold for too long before getting in touch with an operator.

Scaletty initially said it seemed like he and his wife waited on hold for 911 for 15 minutes before they were able to speak with a call taker. They also said it took about an hour before the ambulance arrived.

“I called the cops and it just rang and rang and rang and rang,” Scaletty said.

The Kansas City Police Department and the Mid-America Regional Council later said their call records show that Scaletty was on hold for four minutes and seven seconds. The call was transferred to the police department a couple minutes later.

Even four minutes is “unacceptable,” the Scalettys and the mayor said after the story garnered local attention.

“This is a crisis right now in Kansas City,” Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas said Tuesday. “It’s a crisis that needs to change immediately.”

For the past several years, Kansas City police have failed to meet the National Emergency Number Association call answering standards of 90% of calls answered within 15 seconds and 95% answered within 20 seconds, according to data from the Mid-America Regional Council’s Regional Ringtime Range.

In 2022, 65.47% of calls were answered within 15 seconds and 86.68% of calls answered within 20 seconds. Last month, only 40.76% of the calls were answered in 15 seconds and 45.05% of the calls within 20 seconds.

Local authorities confirmed it took 60 minutes for an ambulance to pull in to take Scaletty away.

“It wouldn’t have taken much for this to be much more serious,” said Philip White, who said he was alarmed by how long it took the ambulance to arrive.

Meanwhile, Brandi Scaletty said she is still desperate for answers about who did this and whether they will be arrested. No information on possible suspects has been released.