12 July,2011 12:36 PM IST | | AFP
An American baseball fan who plunged six metres to his death while trying to catch a ball tossed into the stands by a Texas Rangers player, was remembered by family and friends on Monday.
Shannon Stone, a 39-year old Texas fireman, died Thursday at the Rangers' ballpark while attending the game with his six-year old son Cooper.
He lost his footing and flipped over the railing while trying to catch the ball thrown into the outfield stands by Rangers' Josh Hamilton.
More than 1,000 people, including family, friends, fellow firemen, police officers, other emergency workers and Rangers team personnel, filled the First United Methodist Church for an hour-long funeral service on Monday.
"They really, really captured the essence of what he was - a really good guy with a good sense of humor," said Johnson County Sheriff's Sgt. Ron Russek, who knew Stone for more than 20 years. "He cared about people, like a true servant."
Stone worked as a fireman for 18 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant. He was a shift leader and 10 members of that crew were his pallbearers.
Witnesses said Stone was conscious after landing hard and sounded worried about Cooper, who witnessed the fall. Stone was pronounced dead about an hour later and an autopsy ruled the cause as blunt force trauma.
Rangers' team officials said they planned to attend the funeral but declined to say specifically who would be there.
"For this community it will always be just kind of a mind-boggling thing," said Luke Kilmartin, 23, who works at a fitness centre in Stone's hometown.
"To lose someone regardless of how they're lost is always a tragedy."
