Iceballs faced off against pepper balls in the snow and sleet in Tallahassee on Tuesday night.
In College Town, mostly filled with Florida State University students, crowds filled the streets to enjoy the rare winter storm and throw snowballs.
The cops used pepper balls to end the situation.
Tallahassee Police Department Lt. Damon Miller said the incident began when they got reports of cars being hit by snowballs on Madison Street near FSU’s campus, which has many bars, shops, and apartments. One person in the car said they were hit in the head.
The responding police officer’s face and patrol car were also hit by an “ice projectile,” Miller said in an email. After the officer was warned by the car’s speaker, a man threw a snowball or iceball at the car and hit the officer in the face before running away.
The storm brought snow and sleet to Tallahassee, and most of it was icy rather than fluffy.
The cop asked the crowd to leave and stop throwing snow. According to Miller, it didn’t happen, and other cops were also hit.
“The officers took out their pepper ball equipment from their cars and gave more warnings,” Miller wrote. “When the crowd would not listen, the officer fired pepper balls to help break up the unruly crowd.”
Miller mentioned that no bystanders were hit by the pepper balls, but the irritants successfully dispersed the crowd. One person was arrested for attacking a police officer.
“The Tallahassee Police Department reminds the public that while winter storms can be exciting, throwing hard ‘ice balls’ can be dangerous due to the hard impact when thrown and can be illegal,” Miller said.
Videos of the event have quickly gone viral on social media.
The video shared by Barstool FSU has the caption, “You can’t stop Noles on Snow Day.” It showed the crowd in College Town doing the War Chant at the cops.
Another video from the account shows the crowd running away from the pepper balls. Some posts incorrectly say that the substance used for distribution is tear gas.
Some people are worried about using pepper balls.
Some people are worried about the reaction. Barstool FSU wrote, “Tally PD doesn’t like fun.”
Lisa Lewin, a parent of two FSU students, shared with the Tallahassee Democrat in a phone chat that she was “very upset” about the use of pepper balls, seeing them as an unnecessary and possibly dangerous action.
“You are worried about their safety,” Lewin said.
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