College students can rowdy in their free time.
Cops on one campus found themselves in a situation they had never seen before.
And police arrested a college student for one crime that was unthinkable in Florida.
Massive snowball fight breaks out at Florida State University
The Gulf Coast received a rare winter storm that dumped record amounts of snow on some regions of the south.
Florida smashed the statewide record for snow during the storm.
Pensacola received nine inches of snow beating the previous record of four inches.
Tallahassee saw snow for the first time since 2018 when Winter Storm Enzo dumped two to three inches of snow and sleet on the city.
Florida State University and most of the city were shut down because of the winter weather.
“This is my first time [seeing snow],” Florida State student Emilie Widarsson said.
College students began to make snowmen and snowball fights broke out around campus with the university closed for the weather.
A massive crowd of students gathered in the College Town nightlife district near Florida State’s campus.
Students began throwing snowballs at each other and cars driving in the area.
The Tallahassee Police were called in because the snowball fight was getting too rowdy.
Florida college student arrested for throwing an alleged iceball at cops
Florida typically does not have to deal with rowdy college students throwing snowballs.
One of the snowballs thrown by a Florida State student hit the driver of a vehicle in the head.
Throwing a projectile at a moving vehicle is a felony in Florida.
Florida State University junior Shane Carroll told WSVN that things were starting to get out of hand at College Town, which is home to many of the campus’ bars.
“If cars were driving by like this [pointing to oncoming traffic], they were pelted with snowballs and then people would jump on the cars, hold on to it,” Carroll said.
He suspected that many of the rowdy students were drinking as things got out of control.
“They were definitely under the influence and let the emotions get the best of them, but it was madness, Florida kids have never seen snow and they were throwing snowballs and everything,” Carroll explained.
Tallahassee Police claimed that “ice projectiles” were being thrown by the drunken college students.
They claimed that one student ignored a warning to disperse and threw a snowball at a police officer.
Videos showed the Tallahassee Police firing pepper balls into the crowd to get them to disperse.
Shooting tear gas for snow? Tally PD hates fun pic.twitter.com/lPitblPFxn
— Barstool FSU (@FSU_Barstool) January 22, 2025
Garrett King, a 22-year-old, was arrested for battery against law enforcement after he threw a snowball at a police officer.
“The Tallahassee Police Department reminds the public that while winter storms can be exciting, throwing hard ‘ice balls,’ can be dangerous due to the hard impact when thrown and can be illegal,” the department said in a statement.
The pepper balls were enough to get the students to disperse from the scene.
It has only snowed once this century in Tallahassee before the recent storm.
Police likely got their only chance to ever arrest someone for throwing a snowball.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.