L.B. Landry band members involved in tiff with New Orleans police officer at Muses parade commemorated
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — An Algiers charter school is honoring two L. B. Landry High School band members for what they did and didn’t do while marching in a Mardi Gras parade.
The moment involving a New Orleans Police Department officer was caught on video and went viral.
Orleans Parish sheriff says 2024 Mardi Gras safety operations were ‘a remarkable success’
On Monday, the two students thought they were attending a typical assembly, but school staff surprised them with special guests who wanted to commend the teens for their actions.
Mitchell was marching with his fellow band members during the Krewe of Muses Parade when he and the officer collided, triggering the officer to push Mitchell.
Mitchell’s friend and fellow band member Jerome Marshall walked over to check on him before the two of them walked off to follow the rest of the band.
“Because all it would have taken was a different route and we can be interviewing for something negative instead of positive,” said L.B. Landry High School Principal Jeremy Geary. “So, we want to shed light on how great our students reacted and show them that we are behind them as a school.”
The teens’ band director said he was initially angry when he saw the footage.
“But then, as a rational individual, who I’ve been marching parades just as that police officer’s been standing on his feet for 12 to 14 hours, I wanted to find out what happened, what made this happen,” said L.B. Landry High School Band Director Wilbert J. Rawlins, Jr.
The NOPD’s Public Integrity Bureau has since launched a formal disciplinary investigation into the incident.
“We’re going to let adults and the people responsible for that handle that, but let’s not get lost in the great work of the young people because so many times they’re not rewarded for decisions that they make,” said CEO of Algiers Charter Schools Association Dr. Tammi Griffin-Major.
The boys were awarded multiple certificates of excellence by local and federal leaders.
“Two young men, who, in a fraction of a second, had to make a decision, a decision that could have gone the wrong way even though they were right,” said U.S. Congressman Troy Carter. “You didn’t do what temptation causes us to do.”
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