I feel sick to my stomach.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/12767706p-13618884c.html
A traffic dispute between drivers of two luxury vehicles at Arco Arena left a prominent 39-year-old banker clinging to life Thursday and two men being questioned over whether they beat him into a coma, Sacramento police said.
The victim, Mark Leidheisl, a Wells Fargo senior vice president of San Ramon, was in a coma at UC Davis Medical Center with what police said was a "nonsurvivable brain injury."
Two Lodi men, ages 43 and 44, came forward voluntarily Thursday after learning of Leidheisl's condition, said Sgt. Justin Risley, a police spokesman.
The pair, whose names were not released, were not arrested, and the case will be turned over to Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully to decide whether they should be charged or whether they acted in self-defense.
The incident began about 10 p.m. Wednesday as Kings fans were streaming out of Arco Arena after the team's final regular season game against the Phoenix Suns.
Police said witnesses told them that there was some sort of traffic dispute between Leidheisl, who was driving with a friend in a Mercedes-Benz, and two men in a black, late-model Infiniti sport-utility vehicle in the parking lot.
The Infiniti followed Leidheisl out of the lot and down Truxel Road, where occupants of both cars continued to hurl insults at each other, police said.
After a short drive, Leidheisl pulled onto Prosper Drive, a quiet side street within sight of the arena, and the Infiniti followed.
All four men got out of their vehicles, but Leidheisl's friend ran into a nearby field, leaving the banker squaring off in a fight against the pair. No weapons were involved in the scuffle, which left Leidheisl with a head injury that is expected to be fatal, police said.
Risley said investigators had not determined exactly how the fight began or who the aggressor was.
He described Leidheisl as 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 165 pounds. The Lodi men under questioning were described as 5-foot-7 and 210 pounds and 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds.
One witness, Ming Lee, said he was a passenger in a car heading back from the game to a restaurant he owns nearby when he noticed two vehicles off to his left.
Between the cars, a man was lying still on the ground.
"We thought this guy might have had a little too much to drink and collapsed," Lee said, adding that he would have stopped had he known the man was injured.
As countless fans drove by, the two men got back into their SUV and drove off. Leidheisl's friend returned to the car and called 911, police said.
Several people who live or work nearby said some fans get angry leaving the crowded lots and streets around the arena.
"It is like a parking lot out on Truxel," said Tom Strain, who lives a few hundred yards from where Leidheisl was injured. "There's lots of horns honking. Some of it may be 'The Kings won.' A lot of times, though, it is probably impatience."
Rod Bouvia works at a real estate office within sight of the incident and sometimes sees altercations caused by the traffic. "I've seen people in parking lots get into it before," he said.
As with virtually every game at Arco, the arena's 17,000 seats were filled Wednesday.
But Ming noted that traffic was noticeably lighter than on other nights.
"The game was kind of a blowout," Lee said. "Half the fans were already gone."
Authorities said the incident was the most serious they could recall stemming from the crowded parking lots at Arco, and that the 14 off-duty sheriff's deputies who patrol the lots during games had noticed no problems.
"I would imagine depending on the number of libations had at a game and the mood that things can get out of hand (in the parking areas)," said Sacramento County Undersheriff John McGinness. "But this is the first time I've heard of anything like this happening."
Arco spokeswoman Sonja Brown said arena officials were working closely with police and did not know of problems in the parking lots Wednesday.
"It's just a terrible tragedy," Brown said.
Leidheisl's family did not return telephone messages Thursday, and a tearful couple outside his room at the medical center refused to comment.
Leidheisl has served as a vice president for the banking firm for years, first in the Sacramento area and later in the Bay Area. During the mid-1990s, he helped answer financial questions from readers for The Bee's Business section in a regular column called "Minding Your Business."
"I know his two loves were his son and Wells Fargo," said Kathy Webb, a bank project manager hired by Leidheisl 11 years ago. "He was a poster child for Wells Fargo, very devoted to it. If you ever needed anything, I always felt you could call on Mark."
Leidheisl has a son, Taylor, who is 12 or 13, and had been going through a divorce in the past year, said acquaintances who asked not to be named.
His wife, Holly, an elementary school teacher in San Ramon, could not be reached Thursday. She formerly taught fourth-graders at Pioneer School in the Rio Linda Union School District.
Leidheisl, originally from Roseville, spent some spare time coaching his son's soccer teams. He graduated from California State University, Sacramento, with a degree in accounting.
"He was definitely a Kings fan," Webb said. "But he was a good, clean-cut, healthy guy who didn't drink or smoke. He wasn't a rowdy; he was a family man and a banker."
City Councilman Ray Tretheway, whose district includes Arco Arena, called the tragedy an "easily avoidable loss of life."
"Testosterone gets going and the drinking gets going," he said. "People are cutting one another off.
"It's just tragic. It should never happen."
