VIDEO: Activist Arrested Before Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Press Conference | FNN NEWS
Sheriff's deputies place Ben Frazier in handcuffs at the Florida Department of Health - Duval County building after he protested against Governor Ron DeSantis and insisted that he wasn't going to leave Tuesday, January 4, 2022. Photo: Rafael Crisostomo/Florida National News.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (FNN) – Whatever Florida governor Ron DeSantis wanted discuss during his Jacksonville press conference was dead on arrival before he ever entered the room, thanks to the arrest of a disabled senior with a strong voice.
Broadcaster and activist Ben Frazier, founder of the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, was arrested after protesting prior to Governor Ron DeSantis’s scheduled Jacksonville press conference at the Florida Department of Health – Duval County offices to discuss monoclonal treatments.
Frazier, a disabled senior, and the fellow public members who were with him demanded to have a conversation with Governor DeSantis, and when he insisted on not leaving, Frazier was separated from his scooter and arrested by deputies on the scene.
Frazier had scorching words for the Governor as he spoke with the aide trying to de-escalate the situation. “I have nothing personal against you, ma’am. But with the governor, yes…This governor is the enemy of the people!”
“Why am I being arrested?” Frazier demanded repeatedly as he was being escorted out of the room.
Frazier was escorted to the elevator and taken downstairs to a patrol SUV. The deputies shifted the handcuffs so his hands were cuffed in front of him, and as he was being placed in the vehicle, he held his cuffed hands up for all the news media to see before sitting in the vehicle.