MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Police identified Robert McIntyre Jr., 49, of Mineral Wells as the man who jumped from a 25-foot wall near the south endzone of Milan Puskar Stadium during WVU’s 58-14 win over Baylor Thursday night.
“It looked like he arrived shortly before kick-off,” said WVU Police Chief William Chedester. “And some verbal and some physical altercations took place like pushing and shoving with other fans in the area — and his wife. It continued for a short period of time, and then he approached the top of 134 around seat 118 and jumped off the wall.”
A witness — who identified himself only as Duane — called into MetroNews “Talkline” with Hoppy Kercheval to explain what he saw occur involving McIntyre during the first half of the game.
“The woman that was with him — she was crying and shaking,” Duane said. “You could tell she was either scared of the situation of him and the other guy getting into the altercation or she was scared and obviously frightened from the abuse from the guy.”
McIntyre is in critical condition at Ruby Memorial Hospital in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Duane further added that there was significant concern from witnesses in the area.
“Obviously, you are concerned about the altercation between the two gentlemen,” he said. “That was my biggest concern, because there was a bunch of kids around.”
Chedester confirmed that witness statements suggest McIntyre had engaged in some kind of verbal abuse or verbal altercation with a woman, resulting in the confrontation between another man that eventually led to McIntyre jumping off the wall.
“We can’t anticipate any charges either,” Chedester said. “We’ll continue to investigate, speak with any witnesses that were in the area and take their statements, review what they have to tell us. But we have numerous statements from witnesses that were in that section, and they are very consistent with the same story.”
The extent of McIntyre’s injuries are unknown.