PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A lifelong Packers fan suffered traumatic brain injuries after he was attacked outside a Northwest Portland bar on Saturday night.
Bridget Kitson tells KOIN 6 News she and her boyfriend, 26-year-old Sam Whitehorn, were outside Muu Muu’s on NW 21st Avenue when the fight broke out.
“He was punched in the face and knocked out and fell backwards and hit his head on the curb of the sidewalk,” Kitson recalled.
She says her boyfriend was assaulted by a group of Seahawks fans because he was wearing a Packers beanie.
According to his GoFundMe page, Whitehorn suffered a fractured skull, concussion and brain hemorrhage. He underwent emergency surgery and is now in the nuerotrauma ICU at a local hospital.
“The side of his brain that ‘finds words’ is injured, so he has trouble calling things by their correct name,” his mother, Kelly Whitehorn, wrote on his GoFundMe page. “Part of his skull was removed, so he will have to wear a helmet for weeks or months until his next surgery.”
Portland Police Bureau is investigating the incident.
Officers can’t confirm if it was his Packers beanie that sparked the confrontation.