A high school band director who was arrested multiple times after refusing to interrupt a postgame show said he didn’t deserve it and accused police of using ‘force excessive”.
Police body camera footage was released of the confrontation between Birmingham police officers and Johnny Mims during his band’s fifth quarter program at the city’s PD Jackson-Olin High School.
It shows officers repeatedly demanding that Mims stop the music as his high school players celebrated victory over their local rivals on September 14.
The stadium lights are turned off as the argument continues before a fight develops and screams are heard from the students as their group leader is forced to the ground and shot three times with a stun gun .
“I didn’t deserve to be convicted, no matter how people say it or what they think. I never deserved this. I’m a good citizen,” Mims, 39, told ABC’s Good Morning America as he spoke for the first time.
Mims grimaces as the second of three police Taser strikes hits him at PD Jackson-Olin High School in Birmingham, Alabama.
Mims with his lawyer Juandalynn Givan insists he did not hit a police officer and claims his repeated beatings were disproportionate
“I was on the ground, only to tackle myself two or three times, it’s excessive.
“I’m a band director, I’m a bus driver, so I wasn’t running, I can’t go anywhere.
“I have students that I am responsible for.”
Six-minute graphic footage shows police approaching Mims as his 140-piece marching band sings an anthem 18 minutes after the match ended.
Mims said the band and their rivals agreed to play three songs each as part of the routine “fifth quarter” postgame celebrations.
“It’s a big cultural thing that happens between the groups, something that everyone looks forward to,” Mims told the program.
“A lot of our fans come just to see the bands so that’s not unusual.”
He told police Minor was playing his last song, but was asked to stop immediately.
“When we say go, let’s go,” insists an officer in the video.
Mims was defiant, telling police to “get out of my face” as they demanded he stop the music
And he didn’t seem worried about threats of arrest as the band played
Even the cut lights at the Birmingham school stadium couldn’t dim his band’s performance.
Police body camera footage shows officers moved to make an arrest three minutes after approaching the band director.
A fight broke out as officers attempted to handcuff Mims.
A police officer complained that he was able to handcuff only one of Mims’ wrists.
Mims is warned that he is about to be assigned and a crackling sound is heard as the stun gun is fired.
Students scream in horror as their famous band director collapses to the ground
An argument broke out and Mims repeatedly told an officer to “get out of my face,” before a sergeant told him, “Cut him out!” »We have to go.
“We are getting ready to leave. It’s our last song,” Mims responds.
He gives a thumbs up and says, “That’s cool,” after a police officer threatened him with jail before ordering a colleague to handcuff him.
“Let me go, bro,” Mims demands.
“I’m about to tase you,” one officer says as his colleagues struggle to put on the handcuffs, before another shouts: “He hit the officer, he needs to go to jail.”
“I didn’t snitch!” » Mims shouted as he struggled with the officers.
The band stopped playing at this point and cries of alarm can be heard from its members as the crackle of a stun gun is heard, forcing Mims to the ground during its second shot.
“During the physical altercation, officers attempted to get the band director to place his hands behind his back, but he refused,” Birmingham City Police said in a statement.
“The arresting officer claims the band director pushed him during his arrest.
“The arresting officer then subdued the group director with a Taser, which ended the physical confrontation.”
Mims was taken to the hospital for a routine examination after the charge before being booked into the Birmingham City Jail on charges of disorderly conduct, harassment and resisting arrest.
Mims’ attorney, Juandalynn Givan, told GMA that her office would demand an apology from the city of Birmingham and called for the suspension of the arresting officers.
“I want the charges against my client to be dropped,” she added.
“His reputation was affected, they questioned his character.
“We want justice for our client and we want his voice to be heard. We want him to be respected and we want an apology from the city of Birmingham.
Johnny Mims, band leader at Minor High School in Birmingham, was charged with disorderly conduct Thursday.
Mims in happier times with the football team at Minor High School in the Adamsville, Ala., suburb of Birmingham.
Mims said he was concerned about the impact on students who witnessed the event.
“Hearing these children cry is the most heartbreaking thing anyone can experience,” he added.
“My biggest prayer above all is that these students don’t hold grudges that they can overcome this – that they can one day move forward and continue to be the great people that they are.”
Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Walter Gonsoulin told ABC News they were reviewing the video, adding that it was “extremely upsetting to me that our students, our children, had to witness this scene.”