Suspect booked in stabbing of Dodgers fan, held under observation

The man who police say fatally stabbed a Dodgers fan in San Francisco earlier this week following a Giants game is being kept under observation, away from the general population inside county jail, authorities said Friday.

Michael Montgomery, a Lodi resident, was booked on suspicion of murder Thursday after being detained for hours by police, during which he incriminated himself in the slaying, San Francisco police Sgt. Danielle Newman said.

Montgomery is being housed in a section with additional medical professionals where prisoners are monitored for physical and mental health, among other reasons, said San Francisco County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Susan Fahey. She added that she did not immediately know why Montgomery was being held there.

PHOTOS: Fatal stabbing of Dodgers fan near AT&T Park

Jonathan Denver, 24, was stabbed about 11:40 p.m. Wednesday after the Dodgers-Giants game and died shortly after midnight at San Francisco General Hospital, the county medical-examiner’s office said.

Montgomery was extremely distraught after the incident and “freaking out,” his mother, Victoria Montgomery, told NBC-Bay Area.

In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Montgomery’s father said his son wielded his knife in self-defense only after “the kid that got stabbed” swung a chair, hitting Montgomery in the head.

“My son defended himself,” Martin Montgomery, 47, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “That’s all it was. Everybody’s making it look like it was a team rivalry, but really it was two kids walking.”

Martin Montgomery did not witness the incident but instead was relaying what his son told him Thursday afternoon, the newspaper reported.

Denver was wearing Dodgers apparel when he left the game early with his father, brother, his father’s girlfriend and another friend to go to a bar a few blocks from the Giants’ AT&T Park.

While on 3rd Street, they encountered a group of people who were going to a club, authorities said. One of the men in the group – not Montgomery – was wearing a Giants cap, his father told the Lodi News-Sentinel.

Denver or someone in his group instigated the confrontation by commenting about the hat, Martin Montgomery told the paper.

“He’s freaking out,” Montgomery said of his son. “He’s like, ‘I saw him die in his dad’s arms.’”

Montgomery is being held without bail and has not been formally charged. Police on Friday had not yet handed over their case to county prosecutors.

Montgomery could be in court as early as Monday, authorities said.

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Joseph.serna@latimes.com

Twitter: @josephserna