Tens of thousands of fans travel to Jacksonville, Florida, each year for the annual matchup between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Florida Gators.
People let loose and have an enjoyable time at what used to be called “the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party.”
But officers were shocked by what this one Florida man did to a police horse.
The University of Georgia Bulldogs and the University of Florida Gators have one of the longest and most intense rivalries in college football.
The game is so big that it takes place each year at a neutral site in Jacksonville, Florida.
The first official game between the two rivals took place in 1915 when Georgia stomped Florida by a score of 37 to 0.
The annual event brings tens of thousands of fans from across the country and provides millions of dollars to Jacksonville’s local economy.
Today, the game is referred to as the Georgia vs. Florida Football Classic, but it used to be called “the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party.”
The two teams recently had their 90th meeting of the rivalry and Georgia took home the bragging rights for another year.
Even though it is no longer called the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party, the name is the only thing that changed over the years.
With tens of thousands of drunk people ranging from college students to senior citizens, police officers in Jacksonville have seen just about everything.
But what happened on Saturday at the Georgia game was like nothing any cop had ever witnessed.
Fans went wild.
According to the arrest report, fans were leaving the stadium around 8:30 pm as police instructed them to use the sidewalks and avoid walking in the street.
Multiple officers formed a line to make sure people stayed on the sidewalk.
Emanuel Jones of Jacksonville was one of the fans walking down the sidewalk while leaving the stadium.
According to the police report, one officer saw Jones approach a police horse when the animal’s head “suddenly jerked up and to the right.”
Jones had apparently decided to use the horse’s head as a punching bag.
“At a press conference Tuesday to address videos of officers striking men in two separate arrests, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said a horse was punched,” FirstCoastNews, a Jacksonville multi-media station, reported. “He said 128 officers and 12 supervisors were deployed for the game, which saw about 70,000 people descend on downtown Jacksonville,” the report continued. “The event in total resulted in eight arrests and 35 ejections.”
Police said Jones was still “shadowboxing and swinging his arms around” when three officers tackled him to the ground and put him in handcuffs.
Police arrested Jones and charged him with touching/striking/causing harm to a police animal and resisting an officer without violence and disorderly intoxication.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
