Nation of Bob News
Funeral fouled by pranksters
2002.08.21
The funeral of Drowning Pool lead singer David Williams was held Sunday in Plano, Texas. Over two thousand attended the ceremony, cheering for the talent of the late performer as a video slide show was presented.
However, an unruly few were in attendance whose sole intent was to dishonor the accomplishments of the renowned Dave Williams. Rather than cheering when appropriate, they unleashed whoops of joy and overzealous applause at the conclusions of speeches given by family, friends, and band mates. Security, which consisted of all six officers in the Plano, Texas sherriff's office, removed ill-intentioned visitors as they made themselves visible, but the several dozen troublemakers in attendance did not leave without causing several more disturbances throughout the funeral.
Another such incident occurred when a man with an axe ran to the front of the ceremony and attempted to knock down the platform holding Williams's coffin while screaming, "ONE--SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE. TWO--SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE. THREE--SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE." Fortunately, Plano's finest subdued him before he ran out of lyrics.
Soon afterward, yet another malicious audience member charged into the platform, knocking the coffin to the floor. He then started jumping around the corpse, yelling, "LET THE BODY HIT THE FLOOR! LET THE BODY HIT THE FLOOR! LET THE BODY HIT THE FLOO--" In the middle of his third exclamation, Plano deputies apprehended the inconsiderate goon and hauled him away as he continued to shout lyrics.
As expected at this point, a brash "mourner" stood up and pointed wildly toward the fallen coffin. He too screamed altered lyrics from Drowning Pool's Bodies. It took four "SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH HIM"s before the Plano Sheriff's Office deputies could reach this last prankster.
Drowning Pool guitarist C.J. Pierce said of the disruptions, "It's pretty f---ed up that anybody would think it's funny to totally disrespect somebody's death, especially a great guy like Dave. I'm mourning the loss of a close friend and a brilliant life and I really can't take much more."
David Williams was found dead on the band's tour bus one week ago on Wednesday by his bandmates as they were checking in to a hotel. Cause of death has not yet been determined, though drowning has been ruled out due to the location of the body and the absence of any pools of water nearby.