Four family members face prosecution for voicing their support during a high school graduation ceremony in Mississippi, police say.
Linda Walker, whose 18-year-old daughter Lanarcia was graduating from Senatobia high school, told local CBS affiliate WREG that her husband Henry shouted: “You did it, baby!” and waved his towel as their daughter took the stage.
Spectators were reportedly asked by Senatobia municipal school district superintendent Jay Foster not to scream and to hold their applause until the end of the ceremony. Henry and three others were asked to leave.
Now, Henry and the three other family members who shouted during the ceremony have been served with arrest warrants for their outbursts, and all four face possible prosecution.
“It’s crazy,” Henry Walker told WREG. “The fact that I might have to bond out of jail, pay court costs, or a $500 fine for expressing my love, it’s ridiculous, man. It’s ridiculous.”
Another of the four, Ursula Miller, said that she called out her niece’s name, Lakaydra, as she graduated. “I can understand they can escort me out of the graduation,” she told WREG. “But to say they going to put me in jail for it – what else are they allowed to do?”
The charges were filed by Foster, the chief of campus police at Northwest Mississippi Community College – where the graduation ceremony was held –confirmed to the Guardian.
Foster could not be reached for comment, but reportedly denied that the charges were ridiculous, and said he was determined to have order at graduation ceremonies, according to WREG.
Arrest warrants were issued and bond set at $500.
Zabe Davis, the chief of police, confirmed that Foster had filed charges for “disturbing the peace” through the Tate County justice court but declined to comment further on the incident.
