LONDON -- Police said a weekend soccer stampede that killed 95 people in the northern city of Sheffield was caused in part by unruly fans who arrived late at the stadium after heavy drinking in nearby pubs.
The charges Tuesday came as a Liverpool lawyer filed the first lawsuits on behalf of victims against the police and the owners of Hillsborough stadium, scene of Britain's worst sports tragedy.
A 14-year-old boy died at Northern General Hospital early Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 95, along with 169 injured. Ten people were still in intensive care at two hospitals.
Police in Sheffield, 150 miles north of London, said drunken fans were partly responsible for the disaster at the semifinal playoff match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest for the Football Association Challenge Cup.
Police Federation spokesman Paul Middup said many Liverpool fans arrived at the stadium late after heavy drinking and that police could not control them.
Alcohol is forbidden at British soccer matches, and some fans indulge before kickoff. Police allowed pubs around Hillsborough to decide whether to open Saturday.
Most bartenders contacted by the British Broadcasting Corp. said their patrons were well-behaved and left in time for the game. But one said, 'They drank us dry.'
Police who had patrolled the streets before the stampede told their senior officers that hundreds of people were still drinking in the pubs less than 30 minutes before kickoff.
'We're talking about people who had been drinking heavily who were intent on getting in that (stadium) before the match started with only a very few minutes to spare, and they would not be controlled,' Middup said.
A deadly free-for-all ensued when a senior police officer ordered a 16-foot gate opened because he feared deaths might occur in the rowdy crush to pass through turnstiles into the stadium.
The fans, many without tickets, stampeded into an already crowded standing-room area of the stadium.
The casualties occurred when fans from the Liverpool club were prevented from escaping from the surging crowd onto the field by spiked steel fences erected to prevent hooliganism. Door-sized gates in the fence were opened by police, but the frightened crowd could not escape fast enough.
Rex Makin, a lawyer in Liverpool, 210 miles northwest of London where most of the victims lived, said he filed lawsuits against South Yorkshire police and the Hillsborough stadium owners on behalf of nine injured fans and 'one boy who was maltreated by the police.'
'The object is to stop the blather and get on with the action,' Makin said. 'There are no specific sums involved, but at least it's the kickoff in the battle of litigations.'
An official investigation into the tragedy chaired by Lord Justice Peter Taylor and a separate police investigation are under way. An inquest into the deaths began Tuesday and will continue until Thursday.
Middup reiterated his belief that police eventually will be vindicated by investigations.
Chief Constable Peter Wright of South Yorkshire Tuesday defended his officers' actions, saying 'apportioning blame at this stage is pointless and coming to immediate conclusions is equally pointless.'
After a three-hour board meeting, Liverpool Football Club Chairman John Smith said the club delayed a decision on whether to participate in the remainder of this year's competition.
The board was unable to make a decision 'when there are supporters lying seriously ill in hospital and funerals to be arranged,' he said.
The disaster Saturday was the second stadium melee involving the Liverpool team in four years. Liverpool fans stormed a section of Belgium's Heysel Stadium filled with Italians before a championship game in May 1985, killing 39 people.
