Man who ripped facemask off Joe Montana statue facing felony charges
At no point should it have seemed like a good idea to grab the facemask on the Joe Montana statue outside of Levi’s Stadium and pull on it until it came off.
It becomes a much worse idea when you catch some felony charges for it.
Jorge Alberto Lopez, a 37-year-old resident of Santa Clara, was booked into jail on a charge of felony vandalism, according to ABC7 in the Bay Area.
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Lopez’s poor decision came after the San Francisco 49ers’ Monday night overtime loss against the Seattle Seahawks.
Joe Montana statue was vandalized
The 49ers have statues outside their stadium honoring “The Catch,” the famous play between Montana and Dwight Clark in the NFC championship game at the end of the 1981 season. They unveiled those last year.
Santa Clara Police said a security officer saw Lopez grab the facemask and rip it off the statue after the game on Monday night. He was arrested at 9:50 p.m. on Monday, according to NBC Sports Bay Area.
The 49ers released a statement, via NBC Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco: “The Joe Montana statue that is part of the ‘The Catch’ art installation located inside the stadium’s Gate A plaza was vandalized following our recent Monday Night Football game. Security personnel apprehended the individual soon thereafter and the Santa Clara Police Department arrested the individual on felony vandalism charges. Crews have already begun repairs on the statue and expect work to be complete prior to Sunday’s home game. As this is an ongoing police matter, we will not have any additional comment.”
Statue outside stadium already fixed
The statue has been fixed, Maiocco reported.
The ordeal serves as a reminder: Doing bad things to a statue outside a stadium after a game is a really, really bad idea.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
