Cubs fan climbed on handrail with cup before falling to death

The Chicago Cubs fan who died after a fall at Wrigley Field last week was climbing on a railing with a red cup in his hand when he fell backward and hit his head on the concrete below, a police official said Monday.

Richard Garrity, 42, of Wheaton suffered head injuries Tuesday night and died the next day at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, authorities said.

Garrity, a marketing manager for Heineken, was at the Cubs’ win over the Cincinnati Reds. He was on a work outing with his wife. Cubs officials believe they were sitting in Section 239, which is in the main grandstand, close to the right-field foul pole.

Garrity, the father of a boy and a girl, was leaving the game shortly before 11 p.m. after most fans had exited the stadium, officials said. He fell over a handrail on a ramp leading from the upper deck to the terrace level, officials said.

Garrity landed on his head after falling more than 5 feet, officials said. He was taken to the hospital in a private ambulance. Police were contacted about the accident the next day after he died, officials said.

Police said two associates of Garrity saw him climb on the handrail with the cup before he fell. A stadium employee heard the fall, but didn’t see it. The Cook County medical examiner’s office has ruled the death an accident.

The handrail that Garrity fell over was 36 inches high. Some major league ballparks have 42-inch handrails.

“Given the age of our ball park, we have been grandfathered,” said Julian Green, vice president of communications for the Cubs. The height of the railing “in no way contributed to this incident.”