Kristi, who did not want to give her last name, said she was tailgating with her fiancé and a group of fans Sunday when several men ran to a green Jeep to confront what was believed to be a car burglar after a little boy called out for help claiming his dad’s car was being broken into.
Her fiancé, Doyle, who also did not want to give his last name, recalled one man in particular who allegedly confronted Van Winkle.
“He said, ‘You don’t mess around with kids,’ he said, ‘bro, mind your own business,’ and the next thing you know punches are being thrown. The victim never threw one punch,” Doyle said.
Some witnesses to the incident, which was first reported as a possible car break-in, believe Van Winkle probably was not a car thief, but rather a drunk man who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Both Kristi and Doyle said they believe alcohol may have had everything to do with the incident turning fatal, and said the alleged car burglar was knocked out cold. The couple said the man who allegedly threw the punch, along with some of his friends, left the unconscious Van Winkle against a parked bus. Kristi said she then tried to assist him.
“I said I need to check his pulse. I want to make sure he’s okay, and they didn’t want me to,” said Kristi. “They kept pushing me away like they didn’t want me there, and I said, ‘No I’m not leaving until you let me check his pulse.’”
Kristi said Van Winkle had a good pulse but just a few minutes later, someone yelled that he was turning blue. At that point, she said she ran over and started performing CPR.
“You have to keep doing it but you knew at that point there’s probably nothing you could do,” Kristi said of her attempts to save Van Winkle.
The couple said both the man who allegedly threw the punch and the father with the young boy, tried to leave before police could question them.
On Monday, detectives executed a search warrant at an Independence home which police said belonged to the man who allegedly threw the punch. Police released him Monday afternoon.
