Body cam footage shows police shoot band director with stun gun at Alabama high school football game

Police body cam footage made public Tuesday shows a high school band director in Alabama being shocked with a stun gun and arrested in an incident at a football game.

The footage, released by the Birmingham Police Department, shows Johnny Mims, the 39-year-old band director at Minor High School in Birmingham, refusing to stop the band playing once the game was over. 

According to NPR, police asked Mims to stop the band so they could clear the stadium after the game, and he refused. Body cam footage shows the field lights were cut off before the band finished its final song.

Mims told NPR he's still haunted by hearing the cries and screams of his students. He was directing some 145 band members at the time of the arrest. 

The incident took place on Thursday. Minor beat Jackson-Olin 27-0.

Birmingham Police told multiple outlets Mims "refused" to put his hands behind his back and pushed an officer. 

You can watch the body cam footage below. The footage contains graphic content:

Offers attempted to detain Mims for not complying, and as the two parties exchanged words, an officer appears to shoot the teacher with a stun gun, sending him to the ground and eliciting screams from nearby students. 

Mims was taken to a local hospital and treated by paramedics, then was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, harassment and resisting arrest. He was released Friday on bail and told NPR Monday he was caught off guard and could not see who was grabbing him with the stadium lights turned off.

The game took place at Jackson-Olin High School in Adamsville, a northern Birmingham suburb. The schools are six miles apart. Mims has been a band director for five years.

"Nothing we were doing at the time was being a danger to the community, fans or the school," Mims told NPR on Monday. "Everyone was enjoying themselves. That's the part I'm having a hard time grappling with."

This is a developing story.

-- Andy Buhler | andy@scorebooklive.com | @sblivesports