Jacksonville activist Ben Frazier, attorney speak out against arrest and demand sit-down with governor

Jacksonville community activist Ben Frazier wants the trespass charge filed against him while trying to attend Gov Ron DeSantis' Jan. 4 news conference dropped and a chance to meet with the governor to discuss the "shoddy job" the state has done to handle the COVID-19 pandemic.

If those requests are not granted, then legal action will be filed against the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, governor and anyone else involved in violating his civil and constitutional rights, attorney John Phillips said during a Monday news conference with Frazier.

The 71-year-old head of the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville said he was exercising his right as a citizen to request time to talk with the governor when he was handcuffed and escorted from electric wheelcbhair out of the Duval County Health Department news conference site.

Frazier said DeSantis does not want to hear from the Black community and civil rights activists. He wanted to talk to DeSantis face to face about the concerns of the state's people of color on health care, education, housing, economics and other challenges facing residents. But the governor doesn't talk about those issues, he said.

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"In fact, he goes from whistle-stop to whistle-stop campaigning, using the pandemic as a vehicle for his political aspirations," Frazier said. "... Public expression is critical to a functioning democracy and we will not sit back in silence as this governor attempts to run roughshod over the rights of the people. Sadly, the freedom of the people does not align with this governor's plans."

Calling the trespass charge "frivolous," Phillips said the actions against Frazier were a violation of his First Amendment and Americans With Disability's rights, as well as the Sheriff's Office's protocol. He said the news conference was a public meeting, and Frazier only sought to talk to the governor about the pandemic and other issues.

"There was no threat, there was no crime, there was no intent to commit a threat or a crime," Phillips said. "Instead of just allowing Ben to speak or even moving the meeting to a different room, they chose to single out Ben Frazier."

What transpired before DeSantis' staff changed briefing locations

DeSantis was set to speak in Jacksonville with Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo and other state officials about the state's expansion of monoclonal antibody treatment sites in Jacksonville and elsewhere when Frazier and a few other protesters showed up.

Frazier decried DeSantis' stance on COVID-19 measures, saying he had been "asleep at the wheel" in recent weeks as the number of people infected and hospitalized had dramatically risen.

While they argued the event was public and in a public building, a Health Department official, then two members of DeSantis' staff countered that it was private and for credentialed media only.

"You are attempting to stop the people from holding this governor accountable," Frazier told one staffer. "We are here to tell you that this governor is attempting to stop our rights."

After being warned, Frazier was taken away in handcuffs while others were yelling and demanding his rights.

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He was later issued a notice to appear in court on a trespassing charge and released, the Sheriff's Office said. DeSantis was not actually present as organizers moved the briefing to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement facility nearby in the LaVilla neighborhood. When questioned about the protest at the relocated news conference over an hour later, DeSantis said he knew nothing about it.

His office released a statement later that day stating the news conference was for credentialed media, which Frazier is not. "Mr. Frazier is an activist who has disrupted official proceedings several times before, including a State Board of Education meeting and a City Council meeting that was forced to adjourn early due to his disruptive behavior."

The statement continued saying that every citizen has the right to protest in public spaces but not "trespass in a secured facility in order to disrupt a press conference" and stop information from being passed on to citizens.

Phillips said he understands it wasn't open to the public. But some of the staff became confrontational with Frazier before he was taken to a police cruiser in handcuffs.

"Ben just wanted to have a civil conversation with the governor or his office," Phillips said. "Not only was he not allowed to do that, but instead of de-escalating, ... they escalated. Regardless of whether Ben should have left or they should have de-escalated, they then took a 71-year-old man off his ADA-approved scooter, handcuffed him and took him into the back of a cop car."

Is there a resolution

Frazier has been a professional journalist for 50 years, Phillips said and has the constitutional and civil right to go into a building and try to meet with a political official.

"When things are escalated, the question is, what is it going to take to de-escalate or fix the situation," Phillips said. "Is it going to take a jury trial for trespassing? I don't think so. But what's it going to take? is there a meeting that can happen between Ron DeSantis and Ben Frazier? I doubt it, but reasonable minds have and can prevail."

Phillips also criticized Twitter comments made by the Republican Party of Florida following the incident. The GOP's Jan. 4 tweet stated "this isn't the first time Ben Frazier is led out of a room in handcuffs. It called him "a Democrat with a criminal record who tried to stand in the way of residents learning about life-saving COVID treatments."

Frazier said he had never been taken out of any public meeting in handcuffs.

The sheriff's and governor's offices did not respond to requests for comment on seeking a meeting and dropping the charges.

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Meanwhile, State Attorney Melissa Nelson has asked DeSantis to have her office removed from prosecuting Frazier's case. In a letter sent Friday, Nelson requested an executive assignment of Frazier’s case to another jurisdiction "to avoid any appearance of impropriety" since her office has a relationship with him.

"In his capacity as a community activist, Mr. Frazier has routinely called upon our office to take certain actions related to investigations and other pending criminal cases," Nelson's letter states. "At times, Mr. Frazier has acted in the role of advocate, and other times, concerned citizen, and still at other times, adversary."

She said she and her staff have hosted and attended multiple meetings with Frazier, including discussions over the past 18 months at his invitation "to address various criminal justice issues unique to our community."

dscanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville protester demands to talk with DeSantis about Black community