An Alabama high school band director recently found himself subject to a close encounter with law enforcement and a stun gun. The incident occurred following a football match between Minor High School and Jackson-Olin High School, where he was arrested under charges of disorderly conduct, harassment, and resisting arrest, according to the Birmingham police.
Bizarre as it sounds, the band director couldn’t accept the command from police officers asking both school bands to stop playing in an attempt to dispel lingering crowds from the stadium post the game. Truman Fitzgerald, a spokesperson for the Birmingham police department, affirmed that while the band from Jackson-Olin High School followed the police instruction, the band director from Minor High School did not comply.
Ignoring the officers’ instructions, the band director audaciously instructed his band to march on. The confrontation escalated when the police officers, assisted by school security guards, attempted to arrest him for disorderly conduct. A sideshow ensued as he resisted arrest, culminating in a physical altercation with the police in which he allegedly shoved one officer. As events folded, the director was on the receiving end of a shock from a law enforcement officer’s stun gun.
The aftermath saw the band director receive medical attention from paramedics at the scene, before being transported to a hospital for further evaluation, according to Fitzgerald. Subsequently, he got booked into jail and managed to secure his release following a successful bail posting.
Jefferson County School Superintendent, Walter Gonsoulin, is currently in the process of gathering more information about the unsettling incident, meanwhile urging caution against jumping to conclusions.
The incident, like every other instance involving the use of force by an officer, will be scrutinized by the Internal Affairs Division of the Birmingham Police Department.
