Alabama band director shocked with stun gun and arrested after he wouldn’t stop
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A band director was tased and arrested after he disregarded police requests to stop his band’s performance following a high school football game, according to a Birmingham Police Department spokesperson.
The incident happened Thursday following a win by Minor High School at PD Jackson-Olin High School in Birmingham, said police. Birmingham police officers started clearing out the stadium when the game ended and noticed “both schools’ bands still performing,” said spokesperson Truman Fitzgerald in a statement.
Officers spoke with both band directors and asked them to stop playing music “so students and attendees would leave the stadium,” said the statement.
The home team band stopped playing when asked, but Minor’s band director, Johnny Mims, did not stop and “instructed his band to continue performing,” according to Birmingham police.
“BPD officers attempted to take the band director into custody for Disorderly Conduct when a physical altercation ensued between the band director, Birmingham City Schools System personnel, and BPD officers,” said the statement.
Bodycam video released by Birmingham police shows multiple officers telling Mims to end the performance while the band director repeats “get out of my face.”
“We’re fixing to go. This is our last song,” Mims then tells the officers.
When one officer threatens, “You will go to jail,” Mims responds with a thumbs-up and says, “That’s cool.”
The stadium’s field lights are then turned off and the band concludes its song. When Mims steps off the platform, a struggle ensues between him and the officers as they appear to try to handcuff him while he yells “get off of me.”
“He hit the officer. He gotta go to jail,” one officer is heard saying. “He swing on the officer.”
Mims is then heard replying he “did not swing on the officer” as the struggle continues.
Seconds later, an officer uses a Taser on Mims, bringing him to the ground as panicked screams are heard from the crowd around him.
“The arresting officer alleges the band director pushed him during the arrest,” the police statement says. “The arresting officer then subdued the band director with a Taser which ended the physical confrontation.”
A video that surfaced online also shows the moment Mims was tased…