The Toronto Sun and CTV Northern Ontario are reporting that a former North Bay Nugget sports reporter is the man pictured in a widely-circulated photo issued by Toronto Police in their investigation into Tuesday’s Blue Jays beer-tossing incident.
Police, who are trying to identify the person responsible for tossing a beer can onto the field at Toronto’s Blue Jays Wildcard playoff game Tuesday night, issued the photo with a news release Wednesday afternoon.
The Toronto Sun is reporting that Ken Pagan, now at Postmedia in Hamilton, has spoken with police and made arrangements to turn himself in.
Police have not announced any charges relating to Tuesday’s incident.
The Sun, which offered a $1,000 reward for anyone who could identify the man in the photo, quotes Pagan as stating that he was drinking out of a cup, suggesting he may not be the tosser.
His lawyer, Frank Genessee, is quoted by the Sun saying Pagan is a “good guy” who will “co-operate fully with the investigation.”
The topic of the photo was front and centre tonight at arenas in North Bay that Pagan once played at and worked at in the city.
The well-respected journalist left North Bay in 2013, and was an avid hockey and baseball fan and competed in men’s leagues in both sports.
Both Pagan’s Facebook and Twitter accounts were no longer active as of Wednesday night.
The incident occurred in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s 5-2 Blue Jays as a Jay fan threw a can of beer at Baltimore Orioles outfielder Hyun Soo Kim at Tuesday’s American League wild-card game.
The beer toss resulted in outrage from the Orioles post game while the Toronto Blue Jays released a formal apology after the incident.
