In the latest installment of unnecessary 911 calls, a white woman in her role as field marshal was riding past a teen soccer game on a golf cart in Ponte Vedro, Fla., and she decided to call the authorities on a Black man who was shouting out to his son regarding a referee’s call.
Ginger Galore Williams’ child was on the team playing against his son’s team. She never met the man before, but captured last week’s incident on video. Williams
posted it to Facebook on Sunday with a message:
“SOCCER WHILE BLACK. A parent at my son’s soccer game had the police called on him for cheering for his son during the game. This man was simply trying to watch his son’s soccer game and cheer for him from the sides.
“He yelled ‘The ref is right!’ when he saw his kid out there getting frustrated after a call. This woman, lets call her Golfcart Gail, decided to spring into action and rapidly approach this parent and remind him that harassment would not be tolerated.
“He informed her that he was only speaking to his son. For whatever reason, Golfcart Gail just would not let this go.”
(Click here to watch the video)
In Williams’ video, which is a little over four minutes, the father explains to a St. John’s County deputy that arrived on the scene what happened.
He said when a call was made against his son in the game, he said to him “The ref is right.”
“She thought I was yelling at the ref, so she came over,” he explained.
“I said, ‘No, ma’am, I was talking to my son. Nobody else.’
“But she kept going.”
He continued, “I’m like, ‘Ma’am, I’m done with it.’ Then she was like, ‘Well, if that’s the way you feel, you can just leave and I’ll just call the police.’ I didn’t do anything.”
“Listen, I play by the rules,” he told the deputy. “I know how sports are.”
“How’s your son” the deputy asked.
“He’s good. He’s playing,” the man responded.
The father also told the deputy that he had taken responsibility for a child whose parent had been thrown out earlier.
He said when he attempted to leave because of the field marshal’s behavior, he told the other parents to make sure that both that child and his son would be taken home.
The deputies also spoke with the field marshal.
“So I was sitting there watching,” she says in the video. “Calls were going on and I see this gentleman jump up and run over towards the field in a loud voice.”
She told deputies it was her job to patrol the games to prevent potential problems, and mentioned that earlier she had to throw out another parent for screaming at a referee.
The woman said she tried to explain why she intervened and then “He got nasty with me.”
A deputy approaches Williams as she continues to film, and she says, “I just want to make sure this man is safe.”
She added, “I don’t understand why this woman felt the need to call the police.”
One of the deputies answered, “Anybody can call the police at any time for any reason. We’ll respond.”
A deputy, eventually, said to the father “I don’t have any reason to detain you” and let him go.
“Am I okay to walk you to your car” Williams asks the father, who looks exhausted.
“Yes ma’am, I appreciate it,” he said. “This is too much.”
President of the Ponte Vedra Athletic Association Gary Easom told
First Coast News the incident is being “mischaracterized” on social media.
Reader Question: What should be the result when someone calls 911 for no good reason
