Two of the three men involved with confrontation at State Board of Ed meeting speak out
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - A clash at an Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting in June is now leading to possible criminal charges for three men who had a confrontation in the hallway.
The two of the three men involved who are facing possible charges, Sean Cummings and Leonard Scott III, a retired veteran also known as “Old Ranger,” spoke with KFOR on Thursday.
The affidavit said the conflict between the two men included violent and threatening words which caused more unrest in the crowd.
"It’s an open meeting, I have a right to be here, you’re violating my first amendment right,” said Sean Cummings.
Sean Cummings is one of the men facing possible charges. He told KFOR conflict started when two men blocked the doorway into the meeting room. He was there to speak at the meeting.
Witnesses said Edwards Moore Jr. and Scott were handing out numbers to all the people waiting to get into the meeting.
The numbers represented the order in which people could go inside.
Those men are also facing possible charges.
“The veteran was trying to line the ladies and gentlemen up to come in not to make a disturbance,” said a woman in attendance.
Cummings said he was one of the people the two men barred from entering.
That’s when Cummings said, he got angry with “Old Ranger.”
“I was no doubt loud and I am within my rights, if you were violating my rights to say something,” said Cummings.
Court documents reveal when the security officer stepped between the two, Cummings refused to back down.
"I know for a fact I didn’t do anything. We were really fortunate; somebody got a really good camera angle. I had a file in this hand, my other hand never went up. I didn’t threaten anybody. But I was loud. Look, if someone is violating your rights, I will be equally as loud for you,” said Cummings.
Court documents say when a Tulsa teacher tried to go around the two men, Moore allegedly “grabbed” and “began pushing” the woman, “telling her she does not have a number and she cannot go in.”
“And he grabbed her arm and blocked her and swung her and it was very violent and disturbing,” said Ashley Daly, a parent and witness to the alleged assault.
Moore was also allegedly seen “aggressively pushing” a security officer.
On Thursday KFOR spoke with “Old Ranger”. He said he takes full responsibility of what happened. He didn’t realize that basic common sense and stability would apply. He tried to do what’s right to prevent chaos from happening, which ended up occurring. He hopes the people in charge will learn something from this situation to hopefully prevent something like this from happening again.
All three men were escorted out of the building and the meeting was allowed to continue.
Disturbing State Business and Incitement to Riot are the offenses listed in the documents for Cummings.
Disturbing State Business, Obstructing Passage to State Building and Incitement to Riot are the offenses listed for Scott.
Disturbing State Business, Obstructing Passage to State Building and two Assault and Battery offenses are listed for Moore.
No one has been arrested or formally charged.
A spokeswoman for the District Attorney, Vicki Behenna told KFOR charges have not been officially filed, so they cannot comment.