DeSantis confronted by man about racial issues during Jacksonville news conference on COVID policies

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was confronted by a local resident at a news conference held in Jacksonville this morning.

Action News Jax’s Jake Stofan was at the news conference and said the man pushed DeSantis on the way he’s handled guns and racial issues.

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DeSantis’ news conference at Culhane’s Irish Pub’s Tinseltown location was meant to highlight state laws passed during and after the pandemic aimed at stopping mandates and lockdowns.

But unlike the usual DeSantis-friendly crowd, one man showed up intending to tell the Governor why he did not support the Governor’s policies, and why he believes those policies share some of the blame for the racial mass shooting that took the lives of three Black residents nearly two weeks ago. Here’s how that interaction went:

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DeSantis: “First of all, I did not allow anything with that.”

Man: “Let me finish.”

DeSantis: “Well, listen”

Man: “Let me finish, sir”

DeSantis: “Excuse me.”

Man: “Just let me finish.”

DeSantis: “I’m not going to let you accuse me of committing criminal activity. I’m not going to take that. I am not going to take that. So you should -- if you want to have a civil conversation, that’s one thing. Try to say that I’m letting -- that guy was Baker Acted. ”

Man: “Sir (unintelligible)”

DeSantis: “He should have been -- he should have been ruled ineligible. But they didn’t involuntarily commit him.”

Man: “(Unintelligible) Not true sir (unintelligible).”

DeSantis: “No no, I don’t -- no, no, there is the truth. There is something about the truth. It’s not -- everyone doesn’t have their own truth. No. You don’t get to come here and blame me for some madman. That is not appropriate.”

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The man was escorted out after the confrontation. We caught up with him after the press conference.

We’ll tell you what he had to say and hear what some local leaders thought about the way the Governor handled the interaction coming up tonight on CBS47 and FOX30 Action News Jax at 5.

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