What was supposed to be a memorable first-time experience for one couple at a Dallas Cowboys game turned into a day of horror after they were allegedly brutally attacked while trying to break up an argument at AT&T Stadium.
Wenceslao Gonzalez, a lifelong Cowboys fan, was at the Cowboys-Ravens NFL game in Arlington, Texas, on Sept. 22 after receiving tickets as a birthday present from his wife Lindsey and his daughter.
“I never thought I’d be able to attend a game,” Gonzalez told KTVT, per the New York Post. “For my wife and daughter to be able to do that for me was very special for me.”
After the game’s final whistle, the family allegedly witnessed a man berating a young woman and they intervened, the outlet reported.
“She was sobbing and she looked scared and she looked very similar to the age of my daughter,” Lindsey said.
Wenceslao got into an argument with the man, later identified as Rafael Antonio Ramirez, 32, who allegedly punched him in the face.
Ramirez then allegedly knocked out Lindsey with a single punch when she tried to separate the two men before kicking her in the face as she lay motionless, the outlet reported, citing the Arlington police.
Lindsey said she suffered 12 fractures around her left eye, left cheek and nose and was diagnosed with a broken jaw.
“I know he was in my husband’s face and he had already hit my husband in the face,” she said. “I was trying to separate them. And that’s all I remember. Next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital.”
She was pictured in a hospital bed with her left eye covered. Her right eye could barely open because of the swelling. She underwent surgery on Sept. 24, Wenceslao said.
Wenceslao suffered a fractured foot, according to a GoFundMe page organized by the couple’s daughter Emma, who said her parents haven’t been able to work since the incident.
Ramirez was arrested and charged with two counts of assault causing bodily harm. The relationship between Ramirez and the other woman was unclear.
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Lindsey wants justice brought to her alleged attacker.
“I never wish bad upon anybody or want to see any harm come to anybody,” she said. “I do want him to pay for what he’s done, though, and I want it to be fair and just. Our whole world has been turned upside down. Our lives may never be the same after this.”
The couple said they no longer feel safe at the Cowboys’ $1.115-billion stadium, which opened in 2009.
“I never want to go back there,” Lindsey said.
The family questioned why it took forever for law enforcement to arrive at the altercation.
“It was just really frustrating that there wasn’t more police presence, there wasn’t security around to do the job that they were supposed to be doing,” Emma said.