BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) – The Alabama Education Association (AEA) hosted a press conference Wednesday to discuss the tasing and arrest of Minor High School Band Director Johnny Mims, who spoke during the press conference.
“The things that happened in that game should’ve never happened,” Mims said. “I was not trying to be defiant to the police department, I was just trying to do my job.”
Mims, a member of the AEA, was tased by a Birmingham Police Department (BPD) officer after a football game on Thursday, September 14. When asked by officers to make the band stop playing, Mims instructed his band to keep performing.
A verbal and physical altercation ensued, during which Mims was tased by a BPD officer. At the press conference, Mims called the tasing “excessive.”
Mims was later arrested on warrants for disorderly conduct, harassment and resisting arrest.
“I definitely don’t want us to lose sight of the students who were caught in the middle of this,” Mims said, referencing the students who witnessed the incident,
During the press conference, Mims said that it was agreed upon beforehand that the band would play three songs after the game as a part of a “fifth quarter.”
Additionally, when asked of how his wife and children were handling the situation, Mims said, “It’s heartbreaking. It’s traumatizing. It’s difficult.”
Mims is represented by Attorney Juandalynn Givan, who helped arrange Wednesday’s press conference alongside AEA’s Legal Department. Givan said that she is currently reviewing all bodycam footage and plans to release videos that have not yet been made public.
The press conference will be held at the Central Region AEA Office at 10:00 a.m.