Police have confirmed that Patrick Power is the person of interest in the case of Mark McGovern, a 22-year-old Gaelic football player who remains in a coma after he was critically hurt during a match last month.
Officer Albie Esparza told SF Weekly that the 27-year-old Power has been their No. 1 person of interest in this case, yet police have not disclosed his name until now. Investigators claim Power, a Celts player, hit McGovern, although it doesn't appear that anyone saw the incident, according to media outlets.
"We're trying" to talk to him, Esparza says. "But he hasn't talked to us yet -- he has an attorney."
McGovern's family went on KTVU last night pleading for anyone to help police piece together the incident with their son, who was recruited from a small town in Ireland to play with the Ulster San Francisco
club. McGovern has been in a coma since the June 25 game at Treasure Island, where an
"off-the-ball" incident happened during a match against the Celts, a
team made up of mostly American-born players. Power was a member of the Celts.
There were rumors among players in the San Francisco Gaelic Athletic Association that McGovern, who has suffered brain damage, had been involved in a "fracas." But he was nowhere near the ball when he fell to the ground and began having seizures, according to players.
After the incident, McGovern's coach, Joe Duffy, told us that he hadn't seen what happened, but later heard other players saying they saw a Celts player standing over McGovern and saying, "You won't get up from that."
Duffy says the team is planning a fundraiser to help McGovern's family cover the medical bills.
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