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submitted 1 year ago by geosoco@kbin.social to c/news@lemmy.world

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.

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[-] evatronic@lemm.ee 234 points 1 year ago

This becomes suddenly far more understandable when you open the article and notice the band director isn't white.

[-] timicin@kbin.social 66 points 1 year ago

and it'll also explain why nothing will come of it too.

[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 27 points 1 year ago

The police will investigate themselves and find no wrongdoing.

[-] Illuminostro@lemmy.world 59 points 1 year ago

There's a word for this situation. I can't remember it, but it's reich there, white on the tip of my tongue...

[-] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 73 points 1 year ago

But he couldn't be racist, his wife's best eye is black.

[-] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 year ago

That's tremendous. If you came up with that, good job.

[-] S_204@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

Absolutely beauty of a joke right there. Thank you.

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[-] treefrog@lemm.ee 14 points 1 year ago

I opened the article just to see and wasn't at all surprised.

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[-] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 197 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] Wrench@lemmy.world 63 points 1 year ago

The officer captured on his own camera that his reason for the arrest was "he was disrespectful"

Yep. Says it all.

[-] jonne@infosec.pub 23 points 1 year ago

Hey now, at least he didn't say uppity. Because you know that's what he wanted to say.

[-] Neato@kbin.social 58 points 1 year ago

I don't think that was a lawful order, anyways. And police have absolutely no authority to command citizens for anything but lawful orders.

[-] Aidinthel@reddthat.com 27 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 1 year ago

I would think this is a First Amendment violation as well. I hope this guy gets a payday.

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[-] treefrog@lemm.ee 47 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] Th4tGuyII@kbin.social 38 points 1 year ago

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??

[-] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 27 points 1 year ago

the poor man panicked when being manhandled as the reason to arrest him in the first place

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'

[-] Chocrates@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

Yeah, cops are trained that they are at war with the public. We need to fix that shit

[-] reagansrottencorpse@lemmy.world 114 points 1 year ago

I see a few jerk offs from protect and serve are here valiantly down voting anti cop sentiment. Don't you have a dog to shoot ?

[-] PoliticalAgitator@lemm.ee 57 points 1 year ago

That's only when they're on duty. Off duty, they gravitate more towards punching their wives.

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[-] Knusper@feddit.de 106 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Can someone explain to me

  1. why the police is at that stadium to begin with?
  2. why that stadium needed to be cleared out?

The bodycam footage looks like everyone was having a good time. So, I'd consider it the duty of police officers to enable everyone to continue having a good time. Asking a band director to cut off a song when there's no emergency is completely ridiculous.

[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 108 points 1 year ago

The cop probably wanted to get home so he could beat his wife.

[-] Isthisreddit@lemmy.world 66 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Simple, the cops job is absolutely not to enable everyone to continue having a good time. Their job is to protect capital and the ruling class, usually with impunity. Unfortunately that sort of power corrupts, and this cop probably had somewhere to go and wanted to hurry things up (with impunity)

[-] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 29 points 1 year ago

Police were at the stadium because they were likely required to be. Very often if you have a large gathering you are required to have Police present, often paying for it. It's largely a racket to get officers easy overtime.

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[-] onionbaggage@lemmynsfw.com 71 points 1 year ago

allegedly pushed an arresting officer.

Liars.

[-] bobzilla@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

If only the cops had some way to record the interaction to prove that he pushed them.

[-] incendiaryperihelion@lemm.ee 67 points 1 year ago

burn the fucking pigs already

[-] rez_doggie@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

Smoke more pork

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[-] deconstruct@lemm.ee 52 points 1 year ago
[-] Th4tGuyII@kbin.social 41 points 1 year ago

Literally by the time they went to arrest him the band had finished their set and were ready to go. All they had to do was wait 2 minutes and they would've got what they wanted.

Sure, a majority of the initial conversation is unintelligible because of the band, but I seriously doubt the director said anything that provocative... if anything the officers are the ones trying to provoke a reaction out of him, and he's just asking them to stay out of his face.

I remember back when it was just a "couple" of rotten apples, but just like in the phrase, it seems they've ruined the whole damn batch. Remember kids, A.C.A.B.

[-] thelastknowngod@lemm.ee 26 points 1 year ago

I seriously doubt the director said anything that provocative

Even if he did, not illegal.

ACAB indeed..

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[-] Chocrates@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

We have given the police decades to reform themselves and they have refused. It doesn't matter at this point if any are good, the entire concept needs to be rebuilt

[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 1 year ago

On the bright side, all these highschool kids are learning early that ACAB.

[-] Sharkwellington@lemmy.one 24 points 1 year ago

Holy crap I've never seen such an unnecessarily escalated situation in my life. Just look at all the chaos going on by the end of that video, and for what, because the band needed 2 extra minutes to finish their set?

[-] sik0fewl@kbin.social 39 points 1 year ago

This is outrageous. They better be putting this officer on paid leave for two weeks to think about what he's done.

[-] evidences@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago

Based on the video looks like they were the away school I bet these cops walked over when they started playing neck because "that song is disgusting and disrespectful" or some shit. Bet the cops were home fans and mad their team just lost so they "had to" shut that down.

[-] thefartographer@lemm.ee 44 points 1 year ago

The cop gave exactly his reason to arrest the band director: he didn't respect his [unintelligible]. That was disrespectful.

You can't go around being disrespectful to cops! They're people, too. People with tasers, handcuffs, guns, and have used straight-up corruption to get the rights to stomp all over your constitutional rights or just murder you.

C'mon you guys, we need to have more compassion for these poor cops. They were disrespected by a not-yet-tased high school band director: the most dangerous of all band directors.

[-] bobman@unilem.org 13 points 1 year ago

Yeah. Nobody expects alabamians to be above this kind of high school drama behavior.

They really haven't grown up as a society.

[-] bobman@unilem.org 34 points 1 year ago

Does anyone know who these pigs are?

[-] orclev@lemmy.world 49 points 1 year ago

Yes, they're police. You can tell by the uniforms and the blatant human and civil rights violations that they will receive no repercussions over.

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[-] stopthatgirl7@kbin.social 18 points 1 year ago

Cops gotta cop.

[-] n0m4n@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Many have commented on why police were there. In events that I have hosted in the past, security is demanded for safety reasons, AND often, it is spelled out that people trained in handling emergency situations (police) are required. It is in the contract, and if they are not there, you do not get the keys to open it.

The band director's best response would have been to tell the police that he was responsible for the entire group of students and had the responsibility to get each and every single student safely home. If the police take control, they are taking that responsibility upon themselves. And remind them that that action would be without consent of the parents.

[-] tryptaminev@feddit.de 35 points 1 year ago

I dont think that this complex thought can be argued with someone who thinks one minute is too long.

Also in the US police has shown many times that they neither care, nor face repercussions for failing to take responsibility for the life of their fellow citizens including children.

[-] negativeyoda@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

This presumes the cops think logically

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this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2023
422 points (98.8% liked)

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