The fan that fell from the upper deck of Oracle Arena during Game 7 of the NBA Finals says he was pushed over the edge by a fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“I did not jump. I was pushed by a Cavaliers fan,” 21-year old Salvatore Bimbo told KRON in an exclusive interview.

“He’s insane and I hope the police find him,” Bimbo said of the Cavs fan who allegedly pushed him over the railing. An investigation is still ongoing and authorities are looking for any information that may help identify the Cavs fan in question.

It was previously reported Bimbo had fallen from the second level of the basketball arena in a post-game altercation. Bimbo was rushed to a nearby hospital and was reportedly in critical condition. He remained in critical condition in the days following the Game 7 incident, but he is now in stable condition and has undergone surgery on his elbow with more to come.

This latest incident does bring to mind an ongoing story professional sports leagues and franchises must address, with regard to the safety of the fans. Fights will happen, and there is nothing that will likely remove that possibility from occurring (because beer muscles and loudmouths will always find a way to stir things up), but once again we have an incident bringing into question just how safe those railings really are for fans in upper levels.

Should the railings be higher? Should fans be cut off entirely from the lower levels by a screen around the upper deck? And how many more fans are going to have to fall before some league decides enough is enough and forces these kinds of changes? This is no an advocation for such a measure, but more a reality of the age of sports in which we live. The insurance factors alone are likely to figure in at some point in time before something is modified similar to the NHL putting up netting around the ends of the ice, and baseball taking similar measures.

[KRON]

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.