What began as a routine band performance of Talkin’ Out the Side of Your Neck by Cameo at an Alabama high school football game ended in a troubling confrontation when a police officer tased the marching band director for refusing to stop the music.
The altercation occurred Thursday around 9 p.m. local time after a game at Jackson-Olin High School in Birmingham, Ala.
Minor High School band director Johnny Mims, 39, and his ensemble of 145 students were about a minute away from being done with their final song when a police officer approached the podium. According to both Mims and the Birmingham Police Department, officers asked Mims to stop the performance so they could clear out the stadium. Mims responded that the song was about to end and the performance was agreed on by both schools.
“Nothing we were doing at the time was being a danger to the community, fans or the school,” Mims told NPR on Monday. “Everyone was enjoying themselves. That’s the part I’m having a hard time grappling with.”
As the students finished their performance, officers attempted to arrest Mims for not complying. Police said the band director “refused” to place his hands behind his back and allegedly pushed an arresting officer.
arrested not for breaking any law, but for ‘not complying’ where the office had no real reason to order anyone to do anything… and then charged with resisting.
the usa sucks.
The officer captured on his own camera that his reason for the arrest was “he was disrespectful”
Yep. Says it all.
Hey now, at least he didn’t say uppity. Because you know that’s what he wanted to say.
I don’t think that was a lawful order, anyways. And police have absolutely no authority to command citizens for anything but lawful orders.
Except in the sense that they have weapons and are rarely punished for using them. There’s what the law says and then there’s the reality that if some cop gives you an order you have to choose between obeying and betting your life he’s not going to escalate.
I would think this is a First Amendment violation as well. I hope this guy gets a payday.
I hope it comes from the police pension fund!
It always comes from the city. Police budgets are not effected by payouts.
I guess I mean I wish it would come from the pension.
Me too friend. I feel like the only way to make them reform without disbanding and rebuilding them would be to hit them in the capitalism. Right now they don’t risk anything. The absolute worst case is getting fired and then just getting a new job in the next suburb over, but usually they just get a paid vacation.
He was black, in public, and not licking a pigs boot. In Alabama.
Racist cop tazes black teacher. Would have been my pick for a headline.
Of course he broke the law - he hurt the officer’s feelings. That’s the worst law you can possibly break! /s
But seriously though. Cops got butthurt, and so they aggravated the situation, and used the fact that the poor man panicked when being manhandled as the reason to arrest him in the first place. What kind of circular reasoning bullshit is that??
this is a primary tactic of all police in the united states. all of them.
i would assume its part of the pathetic training they receive which includes things like ‘most cops will die on the job, the public is trying to kill you 100% of the time’
Yeah, cops are trained that they are at war with the public. We need to fix that shit