JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville community rallied on Sunday afternoon to protest against what organizers called a “racial injustice” after accusations of police brutality started to circulate once the arrest of a 24-year-old man with a bloody face being forcefully placed in handcuffs went viral.
Jax Takes Action and the University of North Florida Students for a Democratic Society organized the event.
The protest was held at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office headquarters on 501 East Bay Street to demand justice for Le’Keian Woods.
According to Woods’ attorney Dexter Davis, Woods was beaten by several JSO officers after being pulled over for not wearing a seat belt. JSO has not released any information as to why Woods was being arrested or what led to the incident that was caught on camera.
“I was outraged because, as you can see, he was clearly held down. He had handcuffs behind his back. There are officers still kicking him,” Jara Enoch, a protest participant, said.
Organizes are calling for all officers involved in the incident to be held accountable, a dissolution of the JSO gang unit and the implementation of a public safety committee, “which will give the community a seat at the table to review public safety policies that impact [the] community,” according to an Instagram post.
“We have to show support. It’s important to have a community back behind somebody, especially in the state that he’s in right now. If we don’t do something, nobody else will,” Enoch said.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said the incident is under investigation and eventually, body cam footage will be released, which he said will provide context to the incident.
Woods is charged with armed trafficking in Methamphetamine, armed traffic in cocaine, armed possession of a controlled substance, resisting an officer with violence, altering, destroying, concealing or removing records, and possessing a controlled substance without a prescription.
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Davis’ attorney appeared in court again Sunday on Woods’ behalf to challenge no probable cause on the 24-year-old’s counts.
After a long discussion, the judge ruled no probable cause for two of the six charges against Woods.
Wood’s mother also spoke out at the protest about seeing her son in the viral video being forcefully handled by police.
“When I look at that picture of my son, I felt like Emmitt Till’s mother when she seen her son. He was unrecognizable,” Natassia Woods said.
Natassia said she found it hard to believe what she saw.
“I saw them kick my son and slam his face on the ground,” she said. “I could not believe they would do that to a person because if you kick a dog or do something to an animal, you’re going down. So it’s okay to beat a human down like that? [...] It’s not right. It’s not fair.”
All the details are still unclear as to what led up to the incident. Natassia also said she is unsure of her son’s condition after the incident.
“All I know is he suffered a concussion. But he was in jail, he was throwing up and they had to transport him back to the hospital, so whatever they did to him had to be severe,” she said.
She said her family plans to fight for justice for her son.
“It hurt me so bad because I can’t touch him. I can’t nurture him. I can’t protect him. I’m a mother. So, I won’t be able to hold my son. I can’t see him. This is really bothering me at this time. I just want justice for my son,” Natassia said.
Davis is requesting a full and transparent investigation.