A civil rights attorney said the video is ‘appalling,’ but added that more context is needed
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A video posted to X during the Georgia-Florida game has garnered plenty of attention online after it showed three JSO officers punching two spectators at Everbank Stadium Saturday night.
From the video, it is unclear what prompted the altercation, but two officers in uniform can be seen punching two separate Florida-Georgia game attendees.
At the beginning of the video, one officer seems to have one of the fans in a headlock while a witness yells, “Why are you punching him?”
Later in the video, the same officer can be seen punching that fan in the back of the head multiple times.
A few steps away, an additional two police officers can be seen restraining a different fan before one of the officers begins to punch them as well.
The video ends with the officer who punched the fan in the back of the head standing next to them while their head faces the ground.
John Phillips, a civil rights attorney, told News4JAX that the video is “appalling,” but he added that “we don‘t have the full context” of the situation and don’t know what led to the incident.
News4JAX also spoke with safety analyst Tom Hackney, who said, “The suspect had his hands wrapped around [the police officer‘s] waist and there‘s a gun in 100% of encounters that law enforcement has…one of the things that’s really hammered in training is firearm protection.”
He continued, “When somebody’s got their hands around your waist, [and] they’re they’re close to where the firearm is and [with] a large crowd like that, things can go from bad to worse.”
Lance Harlin, who attended Saturday’s game and caught some of the incident on video, says it was like nothing he’d seen before.
He said even though he was recording what happened, he also wanted to ensure his grandfather, whom he came to the game with, was safe.
“I felt bad for the older gentleman,” Harlin said while rewatching his video. “I mean I wanted to help him, but obviously I can’t step in.”
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Source: News4jax
