Injured Pirates fan identified, police end investigation into scary PNC Park incident

The fan who fell onto the warning track at PNC Park in a frightening incident at Wednesday night's game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs has now been identified as 20-year-old Kavan Markwood of McKeesport, Pa.

Play was interrupted in the bottom of the seventh inning when Markwood fell 21 feet over the Clemente Wall and lay motionless on the warning track for several minutes while being attended to by Pirates and Cubs training staff, as well as EMS professionals. He was placed on a stretcher and carted off the field before being transported to Allegheny General Hospital, where he remains in critical condition.

Markwood was a star football player at South Allegheny High School, where he graduated in 2022. A two-time first-team All-Conference linebacker, he went on to continue his football career at Walsh University and Wheeling University.

“Everyone at South Alle­gheny would say he is a hardworking, highly resilient young man. He’s a fighter. He’s going to need that resiliency now. But he has it,” school district spokeswoman Laura Thomson told Kevin Gorman of TribLive. “He’s touched a lot of lives at South Allegheny. We’re a small community. He’s a household name here. Everyone knows him."

Witnesses told Gorman that Markwood was excited the Pirates were rallying in the seventh inning and had taken off his shirt and poured beer on himself before Andrew McCutchen's at-bat. He fell over the railing in section 142 while celebrating McCutchen's two-run double. The height and name of the wall over which Markwood fell are in honor of Hall of Fame right fielder Roberto Clemente, whose No. 21 is retired.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton and a visibly shaken McCutchen spoke on the incident after the game, offering their thoughts and prayers to Markwood and his loved ones. Pirates owner Bob Nutting also released an official statement expressing his devastation over the incident, encouraging the Pirates community to come together during a difficult time and thanking the first responders who rushed to provide care when the incident occurred.

Injured Pirates fan identified, police end investigation into scary PNC Park incident

Pittsburgh Public Safety announced at 10:30 Wednesday evening that police were investigating the fall. By 8:59 Thursday morning, they had determined the incident was "accidental in nature" and did not anticipate providing any additional updates to the public.

Per Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the railings above the Clemente wall measure 36 inches high, exceeding the code requirement of 26 inches. Still, Pirates senior vice president of communications and broadcasting Brian Warecki told Hiles that the club will "absolutely consider" any possible improvements that can be made to ensure fan safety at PNC Park.

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