A police altercation at Saturday’s college football game between Texas Southern and Southern spoiled the fifth quarter. A fan was body-slammed to the ground by an officer as the two bands went to battle.
There are a lot of questions that remain unanswered.
As is often the case with at HBCU football games, the marching bands mattered more than the final score. It is a shame that such a good battle was spoiled by such an unfortunate incident.
Texas Southern beat Southern in college football.
Neither of these two college football programs are very good this year. The Tigers moved to 5-5 with a five-point win in Baton Rouge on Saturday. The Jaguars dropped to 1-10.
Win, lose or otherwise, it doesn’t really matter. It is the bands that matter most at the Murk City Classic.
The crowd stayed all four quarters to watch (and listen) to the Human Jukebox battle the Ocean of Soul.
Southern drew praise for its sound quality and arrangements. It also drew criticism for being lackluster and stale. Texas Southern drew praise for keeping the crowd entertained. It also drew criticism for a lack of musicality. Who won the fifth quarter is entirely up to interpretation.
Regardless of which band won the battle, the lasting storyline from Saturday has nothing to do with the music. The conversation unfortunately became about an incident in the crowd.
Police body slammed a fan.
Video of this incident surfaced on social media through a post by Kalan Hooks on Sunday morning.
A fan appears to say something as he walks by a trio of police officers. One of the officers grabs him by the shirt on the back of his neck and starts to push him around. The other two officers quickly spring in to action. They eventually wrestle him to the ground, lifting his legs and driving him into the concrete.
Meanwhile, the woman who was with him when he initially walked by the officers tries to protect him. She also gets thrown down.
Police officers got into a scuffle with fans at Southern University’s A.W. Mumford Stadium during the fifth quarter battle. The cause is unknown and people want answers: pic.twitter.com/D1yFFXN9qT
— Kalan Hooks (@KalanHookstv) November 16, 2025
It is my understanding that these officers are attached to the Baton Rouge Police Department but I have not yet been able to confirm exactly who was involved. They could also be officers for the state of Louisiana, employees of the university, or hired security for this specific game.
People want to know who they are and what happened.
What did the fan do/say to warrant this kind of violent response? Was it warranted?
My requests for comment have not yet been returned. This story will be updated if I receive additional information from the involved parties.