What started as a snowball fight in College Town late Tuesday, ended with police deploying pepper balls to disperse an increasingly rowdy crowd. One person was arrested.
Videos posted to Instagram by the sports blog, FSU Barstool, and other accounts show a Tallahassee Police Officer firing pepper balls onto the ground on Madison Street, causing the crowd of people gathered to scatter. Pepper balls are fired from what looks like a paintball-style gun, but the capsules contain the same chemical that is used in pepper spray.
Why did @Tallypd feel this was necessary? pic.twitter.com/yHYLsYycma
— Naya (@BirdspeaksMy) January 22, 2025
TPD Public Information Officer Damon Miller said in a statement police responded to the scene after complaints that bar patrons were throwing snowballs at passing cars. One person in a vehicle claimed to be struck in the head.
When the first officer arrived, Miller’s statement says the officer was a target, with “ice projectiles” hitting his patrol car. When the officer issued a warning, an unidentified male threw an ice-packed snowball through the patrol car window, striking the officer in the face.
As other responding officers continued to be hit by snowballs and warnings were issued, the officers then fired the pepper balls at the ground, not hitting those gathered.
Police arrested one person, a 22-year-old Florida State University student, for battery on a law enforcement officer, but officials say the person arrested was not the initial person who threw a snowball at police.
“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 in his statement.
