A 22-year-old stadium worker on his second day was struck and killed by a suspected drunk driver while walking home from SoFi Stadium after a World Cup match—a working American who paid the ultimate price so the global sports elite could play in a palace built on the public dime.
Aaron Avery was hit around 10:30 p.m. Monday near Van Ness Avenue, the New York Post reported. His family says the driver was speeding and under the influence. The driver claimed he couldn't see Avery because it was dark and he was wearing all black. Avery's sister, Monique Yates, wasn't having it: "You say you didn't see my brother walking because he had on all black. It don't matter what color he had on. That can't be an excuse on why you hit somebody."
Avery was rushed to the hospital with a traumatic brain injury, placed on life support, and pronounced dead the next day. Even in death, he gave—donating his heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys, potentially saving up to eight lives, according to ABC 7 as cited by the Post. His family is now raising money on GoFundMe for medical bills and funeral costs. Over $5,000 so far. That is what a working-class family gets after the stadium lights go dark: a crowdfunding page.
Meanwhile, the rest of the press couldn't be bothered. BBC ran live match commentary from the stadium, marveling at clumsy challenges and players' screams. NewsBreak pushed Polymarket promo codes and betting picks. SportsLine hawked soccer expert predictions. CNET offered VPN deals to stream the matches from anywhere in the world. Not one of these outlets mentioned the dead worker. The spectacle sells. The casualty doesn't.
SoFi Stadium—the crown jewel of corporate welfare—was built with billions in public subsidies and tax breaks for billionaires, all sold to Inglewood residents as "economic development." The World Cup rolls through, FIFA pockets its billions, stadium owners profit, and the workers who keep the place running walk home in the dark because that's what they can afford.
"This is a very devastating moment for my family," Avery's aunt, Norma Quinn, told CBS News. "He was my sister's baby."
The driver was arrested. The family hopes for justice. The stadium will host more matches. The betting promos will keep running. And the next Aaron Avery will walk home from a shift, in the dark, on roads a billionaire's playground made more dangerous—because in this economy, the working person always walks, and the people who profit never even have to look.
