The Fourth of July brought a bizarre arrest in Florida. Many arrests in Florida are entertaining from a spectator standpoint, but this one puzzled for its sheer “WTF?” value. Local guitar god Lane Pittman shredded the “Star Spangled Banner” hard and loud for a loose gathering of spectators. The impromptu event seemed peaceful, but Lane was arrested for his troubles. The internet appeared befuddled to see this youth pastor and coach get arrested.
Lane is still fighting a difficult legal battle. A Jacksonville news station reports how Lane is proud of what he did: “I don’t think I ever played that song as good in my life as I did on that day. It felt right. It was an emotional roller coaster.” Police say the YouTube video is deceptive, for “the crowd was getting hostile.” They say they arrested Lane for “inciting a riot,” although everyone in the video seemed happy except for the cops.
In the end, Lane was charged with a misdemeanor, “breach of peace,” but he says the police never read him his rights. “That blows my mind, because it was peaceful up until the time they arrested me.” Lane is fighting the charges, and he refuses to accept a plea bargain:
Just got out of court and they have decided to push back the situation to ANOTHER court date on Aug. 27th. During the time in between this, the State Attorney will decide to either file this or not. They gave me a diversion deal to where I could do a bunch of community service and the arrest goes away and I said no. To me, that is admitting guilt. I would be admitting a guilt that is nonexistent. Thank you everyone for the prayers and support! Praying God is glorified through all of this no matter what the outcome is!!
Lane maintains that he did nothing wrong, which certainly looks like the case. He stood on American soil and played the national anthem on the freaking Fourth of July.
Lane’s legal bills are mounting fast. These shirts donate 50 percent of the purchase price to the cause.
(Via Lane Pittman on Facebook and News4Jax)
