A confrontation happened on Sept. 14th between the Birmingham Police Department and the local high school band director. Police rushed the band to finish, but their director Johnny Mims insisted that they finish their song since they were just a  minute away from being done with their performance. 

According to the Birmingham PD, they say that they were not able to get Mims to stop his band. Then after multiple police officers requested him to stop, they decided to place him into custody. This led to a physical altercation which led the police officers to tasered Mims for 3 cycles to get control. Then they took him to the Birmingham hospital then after he was discharged from the hospital they took Mims to the Birmingham city jail. Where they ended up booking him for disorderly conduct, harassment, and Resisting Arrest.

According to Mims,  the police officer used unnecessary force and he claims that after he was on the ground they proceeded to taser him  2 more times, then put the handcuffs on him. Mims says this happened during “fifth quarter” – a tradition that originates at Historically Black Colleges and Universities where school bands face off, taking turns to play music after a football game comes to an end.” It is a big cultural thing that happens amongst bands. Something that everybody looks forward to,” Mims said.