NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. – After an arrest on the Fourth of July in Neptune Beach made national news, the mayor of the town expressed her concerns with the way the arrest was handled and with how police control crowds during major events.
The mayor sent a letter to the police chief on Thursday, upset over how the chief communicated the incident and expressed concerns over crowd control during the July 4 incident that led to the arrest of a musician who had been playing the national anthem.
Mayor Harriet Pruette told Chief David Sembach she stands "shoulder to shoulder with our police" but was upset City Council was not briefed at Monday night's meeting before the arrest made national news and members were called to comment.
Since the arrest, Pruette began raising concerns with crowd control around Neptune Beach.
DOCUMENTS: Lane Pittman breach of peace citation |
Letter from Neptune Beach Police Chief
"When you go from a town of 7,200 residents to thousands going through, many of them intoxicated, they had their hands full that day, and when you look at the crowds, all around the man playing the guitar, that was quite scary in my opinion," Pruette said.
Lane Pittman, 22, was charged with breaching the peace.
Police said Pittman was told minutes earlier while playing in the street at 1st Street and Margaret Street that he would have to stop playing. Pittman says that's not what happened, and an eyewitness emphatically backed his account.
The witness and Pittman told News4Jax that the officer told Pittman that he couldn't play in the street but indicated it was OK if he moved and played on the sidewalk nearby instead.
DOCUMENT: Letter from Neptune Beach Mayor to Police Chief
The Fourth of July arrest has garnered national attention, because cameras were rolling when Pittman was asked to move out of the street with his amplified guitar and again when his electric guitar rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was cheered by the crowd.
The cameras also caught the moment police put a stop to Pittman's performance.
"Out of respect for the national anthem, they let them finish the national anthem," Sembach told News4Jax. "He was told he was going to have to stop playing. He went to the sidewalk and continued playing, and it was only after that that the crowd was getting hostile, so the only way to stop it, since he wasn't going to stop playing, was to take him out of the location."
But it appears the chief left those details of the arrest out when he addressed Pruette and the council Monday.
"The council has not been formally briefed on this incident at all," Pruette told News4Jax. "We were told Monday night that one arrest was made, and we were not told the details, and considering the fact that this is nationwide news, for me, frankly, I find it unacceptable. We should be briefed as to what went on regarding this matter."
Pruette told Sembach in her letter, "As I mentioned at the end of the special meeting last week, 'getting any information out of you is like pulling teeth.' Again, to have this whole incident make national news and you not brief the Council on the details is totally unacceptable."
News4Jax contacted Sembach for his reaction to the memo and he said, "At the time, it was nothing more than a routine citation."
He said he had no idea it would become national news, and the issue has taken on a life of its own.
Sembach said he was just as surprised as the mayor that the citation has become a big issue.
The story of Pittman's arrest after playing the national anthem has been posted on websites as far away as Russia.
"I think it's ridiculous," Neptune Beach resident Bill Rixen said. "What's the harm? People were popping off fireworks, making noise. What's wrong with a guitar?"
"It gets a little too crazy," Neptune Beach resident Rick Hlady said. "These streets we're on right now are full of bikes, and most of them are inebriated."
Pruette stressed that she supports the police department and said officers have done a good job of controlling the crowds with the limited resources they have. She only wishes that she and the Council had all the facts of the case before everybody else did.
The State Attorney's Office is still reviewing the charges in Pittman's case.