High School Band Director gets tazed for refusing to stop playing after a game

Ever thought of moving to a different neighborhood?

 

Ok, I LOL'ed at that one.

 

Not going to click Agree here Tilly because I'm not risking impersonating an officer, but, that sums it up.

Side note, it didn't look like "disorderly conduct" to me until someone cut the lights. Then 300 girls all started screaming in unison.

If they were really trying to contain the chaos, they could have focused on helping the people exit, but at the end of the video, you can hear the officer saying "Nobody leave!"

 

I'll post them when I get a chance, but even though Bluke hit the "Agree" reaction, he's still going to mark it Off-Topic.

But, give me a lil bit and I'll show ya.

 

I disagree for several reasons. First, we don't know for sure but I'm pretty sure the school district has some sort of guidelines for postgame; most all of them do. Second, again there's also the fact the home team's director immediately complied. From the video, this smelled much more like a losing school using the band to save face. If that's the case, the director put his charges in a bad spot. It was almost a FAFO situation at that point.

 

So who flipped the switch on the lights with everyone still in the stands? That’s when everything turned to pure pandemonium. Whoever decided that was a good idea should probably be fired. I think they could have probably gotten the cuffs on him without needing to tase him if they hadn’t turned out the lights. Band leader was being an ass and should have been arrested but it seems like the whole thing could have been done more peacefully if not for the darkness throwing everything into chaos.

 

And that's a salient point. But again, the home team's band director immediately complied. Maybe it makes a difference that they were asked first, but either way one school chose to comply and the other chose not to. Even something as simple as the director asking the officer if they could finish the song or even cut it short a few measures and this whole thing never happens.

 

The cops were the pricks from the start. The band playing and a few fans listening, enjoying the music was not an issue. No danger at all. And in the middle of a song, the cops come up and start basically screaming it's time to go? Why? Had the cops quietly gone over and politely asked for the song to be the band's last, and to go after, I bet the director would have complied. But that's not what happened.

The cops got right into the director's face and started screaming to stop. And unless the director was breaking a law, what right do cops have to come up to a citizen, doing his job, causing no issues, to scream in his face? None.

If the director was being a prick, it's only because he was responding to the cops in kind. Unless there is unseen recording of the cops first asking nicely, then what the cops did was wrong. They escalated a situation that didn't require escalation.

Let the kids finish the song. As the band director said, lots of kids stay out of trouble by being in band. It gives them a full schedule, friends, and a support system that helps them stay in school. Like athletics, get bad grades and you can't participate in band, and as a former bandmember myself, I helped plenty in high school and college pass courses they needed help in so they could continue performing in band. The cops could have asked nicely and waited two minutes. Instead, from what I see, they acted like asses from the start and made something that never should a problem a national story.

 

"Turn the pump off, there's gas."
Deputy uses taser anyways.



This 17 year old is a cop's kid. He was tased in the chest for 23 seconds. He was dropped on his face. Dropping his lifeless body on his face fractured 4 teeth. He was dead for 8 minutes. He was in a coma for 3 days.

Court Upholds $6.5M Verdict Against Ex-Independence Cop Who Tased A High School Student





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Cop tases 15 year old on ATV causing him crash, which killed him. This one cost taxpayers $12,000,000.



MSP: Fired trooper tried to cover up ATV Taser death details

"You knew the other trooper committed criminal offenses for which he was later charged," a March 19, 2018 report detailing Berger's alleged misconduct said. "You drafted a false police report with the intent of assisting the other trooper with avoiding discovery, arrest, trial, or punishment after the crime occurred.

"Your report intentionally contained significant deviations from the truth and what is shown on the videos, and your report was a clear attempt to justify your and the other trooper's actions during the pursuit."

The report, obtained by the Free Press under the Freedom of Information Act, goes on to say that Berger failed to "fully and truthfully answer questions" during the internal affairs investigation. It also criticized Berger for not immediately rendering first aid as Grimes lay dying in the street.




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This is a long one. "Suspicious activity," void of any other facts, is not a crime. You do not have to ID. They grabbed and squeezed this man's nuts, tazed him in the back of the twice, kicked and punched him, while stepping on his wrists and demanding that he turn over.



This is a long one, but the footage is in there.



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I could produce more, but these where just off the top of my head.

 

I believe I heard one of the officers say she was going to call the school/the superintendent. Is that who has the authority to trespass people from the stadium? If so, had that already occurred? If so, the police may have the authority to tell people to leave, but then I'm not sure why the officer was talking about calling the superintendent at that point. If the superintendent had the authority to order it cleared out but hadn't yet done so, I'm not sure that the police could have made that decision on their own? Also, one of them mentioned the minutes. I'm not sure if they were talking about how long they (the cops) agreed to be there or whether there was a set rule about the stadium being cleared x minutes after the game ended, etc.

 

I have been at football games where there were a lot of post game fights. I can even remember a game in 1970 where there was a post game riot. So where do you draw the line? Let's say me and a few friends decide we don't want to leave the stadium do the police have the right to get physical? Where do you draw that line, an hour after the game ends, 2 hrs 4 hrs?

 

So you didn't see these in person you just saw them on video?

 

I KNEW this was coming. No, I wasn't live on scene in the mean streets of Valdosta watching all of that go down.

 

Interesting point about the cheerleaders/dancers. Maybe the police felt that as long as the music was being played, people would remain - so they had to stop the music first? I still wonder which person or persons have the authority to decide when the stadium must be cleared out and relatedly, when people can be trespassed if they refuse to leave. It's possible that the police order to stop was lawful, but if it wasn't, I don't think the director had an obligation to obey an unlawful order. Regardless of the legal arguments, I dont' think either side came off looking good considering how little respect was shown to the other and what appeared to be zero de-escalation efforts.

 

He may have the least intimidating answer to the jailhouse question “What are you in here for?” in history.

 

When I made that comment I did think you were talking about you personally seen all this.
I think most did
But that's still pretty amazing that all that happened in Valdosta

 

Sorry for the confusion, but no, I haven't personally witnessed them with my own eyeballs.

Just like I saw ETN run for 172 yards on Saturday, even though I wasn't in Gainesville. I'll be more specific next time.