Two days after the Miami Herald published claims that drum major Robert D. Champion was trying to “join” the “Bus C group,” a FAMUan report has countered with more than one dozen anonymous interviews that point to a different and much more unsettling account of what allegedly happened.According to The FAMUan, it has interviewed 13 Marching 100 members who say that Champion was forced onto Bus C. As reporter Tanya Glover writes: “The 13 sources each claimed that band members from Bus C met Champion, who was assigned to another bus, when his bus arrived at the Rosen Center Hotel in Orlando, Fla., after the Florida Classic football game. The group then allegedly forced Champion onto Bus C.”
Miami Herald Toluse Olorunnipa posted a version of the story that stated: “Champion was looking to join the ‘Bus C’ group after the Florida Classic game when he collapsed on the band’s charter bus and died, said Christopher Chestnut, a Gainesville attorney who is representing Champion’s family.”
While The FAMUan has not revealed if any of its interviewees claim to have personally witnessed anything that happened inside Bus C (e.g.: the alleged beating), the story that the anonymous band members have described is not one of an attempt to voluntarily “join” a bus. Those students have described what police would likely classify as a false imprisonment.
Again, the specific events of what occurred on November 19 have not been confirmed by the detectives or medical examiners who are conducting the investigation. To its credit, The FAMUan was careful to state it was simply relaying anonymous accounts from band members who claim to be witnesses.
But now, it is time for any Marching 100 members who did see anything that happened to Champion between the time he returned to the hotel and the time he collapsed to immediately file reports with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and/or Orange County Sheriff’s Office (if they have not done so already).
To do anything less would only impede the ongoing investigations and hinder the justice process.
