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Police: Super Bowl Crowd's Behavior Largely Super

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 1, 2009

TAMPA - The 70,000 or so people who filled Raymond James Stadium were well-behaved, authorities said.

The same couldn't be said for some outside.

Nine people were arrested on charges of selling counterfeit tickets, and an undisclosed number of phony tickets were seized, said Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy.

The highest asking price for a seized counterfeit ticket was $2,500, police said.

One person was arrested on charges of selling counterfeit merchandise and two people were charged with having counterfeit credentials for the big game. Twelve counterfeit credentials and access badges were confiscated.

Alfred Dunn Jr., 45, was charged with grand theft after police said he stole Super Bowl tickets outside the stadium. Dunn ran away and dropped the two tickets – each worth $800 – in the median of North Himes Avenue.

Police issued warnings to about 15 unlicensed vendors outside the stadium.

A police horse named Ginger was hit by a drunk driver.

"The horse was uninjured," McElroy said.

Although there were 26 arrests and 18 ejections, largely missing from the night's police blotter was the usual assortment of drunk-fan troubles found at Bucs games.

But people who spend $1,000 or more for a seat generally don't want to get tossed out of the game or arrested.

"It's a different crowd," McElroy said. "They are higher profile and they paid a higher price for tickets."

As of 10:30 p.m., nine people had been transported by ambulance from the stadium to St. Joseph's Hospital for evaluation and treatment, according to Tampa Fire Rescue.

EMS crews at the stadium and the adjacent NFL Experience also treated dozens of people for minor medical conditions that did not require transportation to hospital.

Reporter Ray Reyes contributed to this report. Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.

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