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HOWLAND -- A reported altercation between a woman and a motorist following a Howland High School football game in September is still under investigation.
According to a police report obtained Monday, an officer was dispatched to the high school for an assault and spoke with Alysia Lealand, who said she was blocking traffic for the Howland band when she asked a man in a blue Tesla to move his vehicle.
Lealand said the man then exited his vehicle and raised his fist in the air like he was going to hit her, adding that he then chest-bumped her, leading her to grab his shirt to prevent herself from falling.
Lealand said she then hit him with the stick that she uses to direct traffic, and he hit her in her left arm, reentered his vehicle and left the scene, the report states.
The report states Lealand lifted her shirt and revealed a bruise on her left arm and said her finger was in pain, but she refused to go to the hospital.
The officer spoke with Howland High School staff, who said they were in the process of reviewing video surveillance, which captured the incident, adding that they would work on getting it downloaded onto a DVD.
A woman at the scene also offered to sign a witness statement.
Lealand and her husband, Scott, spoke about the incident at a recent Howland Board of Education meeting, explaining that she and her mother do traffic control so the band can go through without people trying to drive through them.
Lealand said she filed a police report, the cameras were checked, and they were a bit fuzzy because it was dark out, adding that it goes back to their request to have an officer help them, and they've been directing traffic after the games for the past 14 years.
"The only two to do this, to keep the band and spectators and people from the away side safe is me and my 72-year-old mother -- we are just asking for help," Lealand said. "This is what came of it."
"There's no reason why two police officers -- one at each exit, where we normally stand, couldn't do this for one hour," Lealand said.
Scott reiterated his wife's wishes, adding that the officers already should have been in place.
"We shouldn't have to rely on a band parent and a band grandparent, for that matter," Scott said. "I mean, this woman is 72 years old -- she's paid her dues to society, right?"
"She shouldn't have to stand there and direct traffic in and out of a parking lot to ensure the safety of 200 or 250 kids who are carrying instruments, who are playing instruments, who are trying to go back and forth, to and from a football game, and then have to deal with a disgruntled fan?"
Scott alleged that the motorist was illegally parked to begin with, adding that his wife told him the band was coming and that she asked him to move, offering to get him out of the parking area quickly before everyone flooded the parking lot.
Scott said he's normally at the games and with his wife and mother-in-law, and said there was no reason why police couldn't be there before and after the game.
Lealand said the high school's band students ran to her aid and Shawn Reynolds, the band director, "came in like an Avenger", alleging that he was the first person to grab the man who was hitting her.
Athletic director Scott Thompson said the officers were gone for the evening when the incident happened, which surprised him.
"My conversation with them is that, until the crux of people are gone and we've guided people out of here, I still need you around," Thompson said. "It was to my surprise, as well; I'm going to have a conversation with them and make sure that they're aware that we need them afterwards."
Lealand said she wished to be included in that conversation, noting cases at other home games where the Tiger Transport, a 12-passenger electric golf cart the district acquired in 2024, was run off the road and had to go through someone's front yard because of pedestrians and traffic.