Police arrive to dispute blaring soul music"

By Ben Conarck, Lakeland Bulletin

Posted December 29, 2017

After calling the Lakeland Police, Tina French nervously waited on her friend’s porch as a man appears to berate them over a dispute about pictures being uploaded to Facebook. When the police get there, it’s not a siren announcing their presence. It’s the 1975 R&B/Soul hit single, “Why Can’t We Be Friends’ by the California funk band War.

It would be a novel way of de-escalating a potentially charged situation for a police officer, and that’s what a viral video recorded by resident Kimberly Anne Pryor appears to show. The Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the incident.

When reached for comment, Pryor explained that the argument took place near the intersection of 9th and Pearl streets on Dec. 12, around midnight. Pryor said she called the Sheriff’s Office after a man, who she could not identify, accused her friend of posting pictures to a Facebook group, which he denied doing. Pryor said she called police because she wanted to leave the house and feared for her safety.

Three officers responded, Pryor said, and as they were coming south down Pearl Street, she could hear music. “It starts off like somebody’s turned their stereo up, and then it progressively gets louder and louder until you realize that, ‘Oh, that’s the cop blaring that music,’” Pryor said.

Pryor said the police remained calm throughout the incident and diffused the situation. Shortly thereafter, one of the officers caught Pryor’s attention and offered to escort her away from the dispute, she said. Pryor said she did not believe a report was written.

Pryor wanted to commend the officers for a job well done, but she did have one gripe. “I’m a little irritated,” she said. “I can’t get that song out of my head now.”