Oakland chef Daniel Luna out of coma after apparent beating at NFC Championship Game, plans to reopen restaurant in next two weeks
Luna has a 'significant road to recovery,' according to a family spokesperson
Oakland chef and 49ers fan Daniel Luna is out of a medically induced coma after an apparent beating at the NFC Championship Game earlier this year, but still has a long road to recovery, according to a family spokesperson.
Luna, 40, who owns the restaurant Mistura in Oakland, was hospitalized last month after an altercation during the NFC Championship Game outside SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. A 33-year-old Los Angeles man was arrested on suspicion of “assault by a means to produce great bodily injury,” a felony, police in Inglewood said. He has since been released on bail.
Luna was among the wave of 49ers fans attending the showdown with NFC West rivals the Los Angeles Rams and was found bleeding in the parking lot about a half hour after the game’s scheduled kickoff. He was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where he underwent surgery and was placed into a medically induced coma due to bleeding and intracranial swelling.
Family friend and crisis communications expert Sam Singer, who has known Luna for about a decade and spoke with him Wednesday morning, said Luna woke up from the coma in the last week or two and still has a “significant road to recovery” but it’s a “miracle he’s recovered this well.” Luna is currently in recovery at rehab and also plans to re-open the restaurant in the next two weeks.
“There were many doctors who only gave him only a 5% chance of surviving but those who knew him knew he was a fighter and would do his very best to overcome the terrible attack on him,” Singer said. “He’s got substantial head injuries, he has speech therapy issues.”
Video of the fight obtained by police showed Luna mingling with a group of other fans — mostly in 49ers clothing — during a tailgate party in the parking lot, Inglewood Mayor James Butts said at a news conference last month. The security video showed Luna pushing another man, who appeared to be wearing a LA Rams jersey, from behind, according to Butts. The other man is then seen pushing Luna, and apparently hitting him in the face, causing Luna to fall and hit his head on the ground, Butts said.
“It looked like a small altercation that went very bad,” Butts said, adding that the security video would not be released to the public at this time.
Detectives used the video footage to trace a vehicle believed to be connected to the suspect and reached out to the car’s owner. Authorities were later contacted by the suspect, who was at his workplace in Montebello, and said he voluntarily went with police once they arrived at his location and placed him under arrest.
The alleged beating incident resurfaced memories of Bryan Stow, a San Francisco Giants fan who in 2011 was beaten by several Los Angeles Dodgers fans in the parking lot outside Dodger Stadium. And it has raised questions about security — and the potential for fan violence — at the Super Bowl, which is just the second in NFL history in which one of the participating teams, the LA Rams, is playing in its home stadium.
“Everybody in Oakland, everybody who’s a 49ers fan and everybody who believes in peace and justice is thrilled he’s out of the coma and making a comeback,” Singer said. “We hope there is justice out there.”