Passions run hot during college football games.
Sometimes tensions boil over at the worst possible time.
And a viral video revealed this scary fight in the stands at a Florida Gators football game.
Police attack fans during the Georgia-Florida rivalry game
The annual clash between the University of Florida Gators and the University of Georgia Bulldogs is one of the most heated rivalry games in college football.
It is known as the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” for wild tailgating by fans of both schools.
The game is played annually in Jacksonville, Florida at EverBank Stadium.
Georgia came away with a 34-20 victory over Florida but the action in the stands got almost as much attention as the play on the field.
Bodycam footage showed multiple fights breaking out between the police and fans at the game.
TASER FIGHT AT FLORIDA-GEORGIA
— Old Row Sports (@OldRowSports) November 3, 2024
Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office deputies helped work security for the game.
One video shows two officers brawling with fans on the stairs of a section with a crowd watching.
Someone can be heard in the video asking the deputy why he is punching the fan.
The fan was curled in a defensive position while the deputy was wailing on him.
Another fan in the upper deck of the stadium fought with the deputies before he was eventually tasered.
An investigation into the deputies’ conduct is underway
One of the videos looked like a free-for-all out of the WWE’s Royal Rumble.
The videos went viral on social media which left many college football fans wondering why the police were beating fans senseless at the game.
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan (D) said that she was aware of “several disturbing videos” of fighting at the Florida-Georgia game.
“I’m aware of several disturbing videos circulating from yesterday’s game,” Deegan wrote on X. “I have spoken to Sheriff Waters and the incidents are under investigation. We are awaiting the outcome of that investigation.”
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters announced that an investigation had been launched into the videos.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s Professional Standards Division conducted an internal investigation into what happened in the stands of EverBank Stadium during the game.
Sheriff T.K. Waters said a review of the footage found that none of the deputies involved in the videos violated any of the department’s policies.
The videos that circulated on social media did not tell the entire story of what happened that led to the fights.
“In this case the cellphone camera footage that has been circulating since Saturday does not comprehensively capture the circumstances surrounding these instances,” Waters said. “… The cellphone cameras did not capture the events that led up to the arrests.”
Waters claimed one of the fans threatened to kill a deputy and tried to take his firearm.
“Once again we’re seeing intentionally misleading video clips lacking proper context pushed out on social media to drive a false narrative,” Waters explained.
Jeremy Williamson who posted one of the videos to social media disagreed with the sheriff’s assessment of the situation.
“What we witnessed was 100% wrong,” Williamson said. “It was police brutality. Regardless of the words that came out of that man’s mouth, there was absolutely no excuse for what they did.”
The actions in the stands in Jacksonville were crazier than anything that happened in the game.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
