We are hearing from Sheriff Mike Williams for the first time since last Friday’s protest at Hemming Park turned violent.
One of the coordinators for that protest said police used excessive force with several protestors, even sending one man to a local hospital.
Williams sent Action News Jax a statement when we asked him whether officers went too far in a video at a recent protest.
RELATED: Organizations call for independent investigation into arrests at Hemming Park protest
The statement says in part, “Depriving an officer of his or her ability to communicate and perform their duties is against the law and will result in an arrest every time. We are obligated to respond to resistance and violence with that force necessary to overcome the resistance.”
In the video, an officer appears to grab Connell Crooms, after Crooms lunged at a man waving a Donald Trump flag.
“Myself and other witnesses were telling cops 'he’s deaf, he’s deaf, he’s not resisting arrest,'” Dustin Ponder said.
Ponder was one of the coordinators for Friday’s event. We obtained video of some protestors attacking police officers, but Ponder said Gary Snow, who was waving a Donald Trump flag, was taunting several protestors beforehand and Ponder claims he initiated everything.
Action News Jax asked Snow about these allegations.
FLORIDA NEWS: ‘We are coming for you. Run': Florida sheriff, flanked by masked deputies, warns heroin dealers
Action News Jax: "What’s your message for people who believe you should have been arrested at that protest?"
Gary Snow: "Show me the evidence. I did not do anything wrong.”
Isaiah Rumlin with Jacksonville chapter of the NAACP said several civil rights leaders are meeting with Williams about what happened, and whether things did get out of hand.
“If it comes out that there was excessive force, then we expect the sheriff to do something about it,” Rumlin said.
We found out Snow pleaded guilty to resisting law enforcement in 2008 in Indiana.
Kirk Bailey, political director of the ACLU of Florida, issued the following statement on the arrests on Tuesday:
"The ACLU of Florida is deeply concerned about the treatment and arrest of demonstrators Friday night in downtown Jacksonville. We have spent the last several days communicating with individuals who were present, including some of the individuals who were arrested, and are in the process of initiating an investigation into potential civil rights violations.
"The right of individuals to join their fellow citizens in public demonstration is critical to our democracy, and the role of police at a protest is to keep protesters and non-protesters alike safe. It is particularly disturbing when police use their authority to break up a protest. Questions remain in this case about surveillance of groups involved in the event, whether and why some individuals were targeted for arrest over others, and especially the violent degree of force used in the arrests.
"We are encouraged by Sheriff Williams' recent statement about reviewing training and procedures and look forward to partnering with his office and Mayor Curry to hold him to that—to make sure everyone's right to free speech, expression, and assembly are fully protected, regardless of political affiliation, race, or other classes."
Cox Media Group
