It’s often said that security guards are wannabe cops. Have you ever heard that said about refs? Me either. But check this out, as reported by wwl.com:
An apparent argument over crowd control between high school football referees and members of the Covington Police Department led to the arrest of two members of the officiating crew.
You probably saw that coming. So what happened?
The incident happened at the Mandeville-St. Paul’s game at about 8:45 Friday night.
St. Paul’s Athletic Director Craig Ketelson told WWL’s Deke Bellavia, who was broadcasting from the game, that an argument between two referees and police that were providing security became heated.
Ketelsen said, “I have never seen anything like this before.”
And you probably won’t again …
Covington Police Captain Jack West told Deke Bellavia what officers say happened in the incident:
“Well, a referee asked a police officer to move some people back. The police officer moved them back. Another referee came up to the police officer and told him, ‘that’s not far enough.’ The police officer explained….would you please handle the game, referee the game, and we will handle the crowd for you. The second referee told the police officer, nose-to-nose with the police officer, ‘you’re out of the game…get outta here.’ And the police officer said, ‘excuse me sir, just referee the game, and we’ll handle the crowd.’ And he says ‘no, get out. Get out now.’
West went on to say, “There’s several witnesses that stepped forward who stepped forward to say that’s what happened. So, the two referees have been arrested for public intimidation.”
Yes, the refs actually thought their authority was greater than the police officers controlling the crowd.