Riley Crabtree is a Columbus Dispatch opinion writer and Miami University student.

An epic flip on the field of Great American Ballpark made Reds’ fan William Hendon an instant legend last week.

The epic jolt the 19-year-old Ohio State sophomore got when a Cincinnati police officer used a Taser on him after the flip is sadly legendary for what it says about violence in this nation.

The flip and the jolt went viral. Hendon sparked memes, T-shirts and even admiration from Municipal Court Judge William Mallory who said, “Everybody thinks you landed that backflip.”

Hendon did indeed land the backflip, along with a felony for criminal trespassing charge, which was later reduced to a misdemeanor, and another misdemeanor for obstruction.

While I can only somewhat imagine the mindset of a 19-year-old “boy,” I was stunned to see the look on his face as Hendon’s face withered in pain after being shocked with a Taser at the Reds-Guardians game. I wouldn’t say that boys my age don’t make dumb decisions, but shocking Hendon with a Taser took things too far.

A fun mistake with not so fun consequences

Hendon made a decision, one that I’m sure he knew there would be consequences for. As Judge Mallory said, he got his 15 minutes of fame, but at what cost?

The boy — and I emphasize boy because Hendon is a teenager at 19 years old and his brain isn’t yet fully developed like a man’s — made what I would consider a fun mistake.

In considering the “why” of Hendon’s decision to sprint across the ballfield — even deciding to chat up a player —he likely wanted to feel the rush of the stadium, maybe even wanted to do something a little risky while he was young.

Does this necessitate being shocked with a Taser, arrested, held in jail, wrongly accused of a felony, several criminal charges and a lifetime ban from the ballpark? Absolutely not. I can understand the misdemeanors, but the felony charge on top of being shocked with a Taser is questionable.

Why is violence at the forefront of our minds?

Why do we always resort to violence when faced with quote-on-quote ‘criminals?’

What police should have done, something they’ve failed to do in similar situations in the past, such as the “Don’t tase me bro” guy, is try to handle the situation — a really non-threatening situation at that — without resorting to violence.

The situation was funny.

Use of force being investigated in arrest of fan who crashed Reds game, police say

Maybe a handful of fans or players were a little upset at the unwelcome interruption, but overall, I bet the majority of fans found the situation comical. What harm was Hendon really causing?

Stopping him was understandable, but not in the way police went about it.

The police department has opened an investigation into the use of the Taser to arrest Hendon.  

Why is violence so often the response?

The situation raises another question: Are those committed to protecting people acting too harshly in the face of a threat?

The number of people shot to death by police continues to rise every year. Even in jail systems, we see horrendous treatment of inmates. Over 219 people died in Ohio jails alone from 2020 to 2023, and 75.3% of them were unsentenced.

All these statistics, these situations, stem from a lack of genuine concern for safety to everyone. Where is the promised safety for a non-violent violator? Hendon, while his example is of a smaller scale, is part of a deeper trend of guards taking their duties too far.

I do not condone someone running across a professional baseball field during a game, especially considering the price is usually a criminal charge and large fee. I do, however, think police acted too harshly toward Hendon.

Eventually, an officer, whether one on the other side of the field or the one chasing him, would have caught him.

Places like the Great American Ball Park are filled with security personnel in almost every corner during games. Hendon would’ve been caught eventually, and he could’ve been arrested without a violent shock from a Taser or a tackle.

Hendon being shcoked with a Taser mid-field is only one example of the way guards are choosing to incite violence when it’s unnecessary.

We need to change our methods of interacting with criminals, especially unarmed, non-violent or non-threatening ones.

Riley Crabtree is a Columbus Dispatch opinion writer and Miami University student.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Cincinnati police overreacted to backflipping Reds fan