Story has been updated.
The Los Angeles Police Department has arrested two suspects in the beating of Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium. The new arrests could exonerate current suspect Giovanni Ramirez.
The LAPD refuses to confirm the arrests, but LA Times sources say that the police now believe that Ramirez is not responsible for the attack.
Ramirez's attorney Anthony Brooklier spoke with KNX1070 after hearing the news: "I'm thrilled for my client and that's really all I want to say. I'm not in the business of criticizing the LAPD. This is a tough business. I just assume this was a good faith mistake." He continued, "I always expected this day to come. I was just wondering when it was going to happen."
When the LAPD arrested Ramirez in May on suspicion of beating Bryan Stow, they found a firearm at the apartment where he was staying, which constituted a parole violation. Ramirez is currently serving 10 months in prison for this violation. When asked if the new arrests in the Bryan Stow beating could help reduce Ramirez's sentence, Brooklier said, "the two are supposedly separate and independent of each other, but it can't hurt."
At the time of the interview, Brooklier had not yet reached Ramirez or his family with the news.
Another of Ramirez's attorneys, Jose Romero, suggested that the defense team also played a part in changing the course of the case. The Associated Press reports: " 'The police played hide and seek so we did our own digging,' Romero said. 'This is our golden nugget. He's been innocent from the beginning.' "
TMZ's law enforcement sources say that the case against Ramirez took a new turn after it was reassigned to the LAPD's elite Robbery Homicide unit. TMZ reports, "We're told Robbery Homicide detectives 'looked at the case from scratch, and the case against Ramirez fell apart.' "
TMZ also notes that the LAPD served four search warrants across four different homes in LA, and that police arrested two hispanic men this morning.
San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow was attacked on March 31st in the Dodger Stadium parking lot after a Dodgers-Giants game. He was kept in a medically-induced coma because of the extensive brain damage he suffered, and he was later transferred to a San Francisco hospital to be closer to his family. While his condition has been upgraded from "critical" to "serious," Stow recently suffered some setbacks and underwent emergency brain surgery this week.
Giovanni Ramirez was arrested almost two months after Stow's attack. LAPD chief Charlie Beck repeatedly expressed his confidence in the department's case against Ramirez, despite the fact that they never filed a case with the Los Angeles District Attorney.