Deonca Gordon speaks during a news conference Friday, April 3, 2026, about the violent arrest of her son. | News4Jax
Published on April 3, 2026 at 5:00 pm
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Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is demanding an investigation into a violent arrest by Jacksonville police in November.
Crump conducted a news conference Friday to highlight police bodycam video showing sheriff’s deputies hitting Dasaun Williams, 24, and tasering him repeatedly.
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Crump also pointed to the violent arrest in 2024 of another Black man, Travis Brinkley. He demanded that the Sheriff’s Office “speak truth” about what he called victims of police brutality.
“The police cannot be the ones who break the law if they want to be the example of how to uphold the law,” Crump said. “We don’t need outlaws. What we need is law enforcement who respect the Constitution.”
The Sheriff’s Office says the Williams incident is under administrative review. A spokesperson told Jacksonville Today that the department is unable to respond to Crump’s statements due to pending litigation.
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The Sheriff’s Office added that an internal review of the Brinkley case found that officers’ response was “within policy.” Department spokesperson Vic Micolucci said he also could not comment further about Brinkley’s case, again citing pending litigation.
Standing at the altar at The Sanctuary at Mount Calvary on New Kings Road, Williams’ mother, Deonca Gordon, said her son was kicked when he did not resist, punched, kneed in the face and hit with a taser.
“My son was beaten brutally for a crime that he should not have been being beaten for,” Gordon said. “He should have just been arrested, been arrested and taken down and stood before a judge and jury to be convicted of whatever crimes he committed. It’s not for JSO officers to take it upon themselves to pass down the law.”
Williams was jailed on 27 drugs charges during an undercover investigation. During the investigation, detectives arrested five men, served five search warrants, and seized 152 grams of fentanyl, 115 grams of cocaine, 22 guns and other drugs.
Williams arrest photo shows a swollen face. He remains jailed, police said.
Crump said Brinkley also was complying with officers. The attorney released just over a minute of what appears to be bodycam video. It shows Brinkley punched in the face as he is held on the ground and told, “Stop reaching; just do as you’re told.”
Brinkley, standing next to civil rights attorney Harry Daniels on Friday, said he never expected any of what happened when he was arrested.
Travis Brinkley speaks Friday, April 3, 2026, about his arrest in 2024. With him are civil rights attorneys Ben Crump, right, and Harry Daniels. | News4Jax
“I didn’t think I provoked them or did anything wrong that would cause what happened to happen,” Brinkley said. “I figured things would go by the book. I didn’t resist; I didn’t curse; I wasn’t combative. I totally complied, and what happens to me should not happen to anyone else”
Crump has made a number of visits to Jacksonville to represent Black men and women arrested by local police. Those include Erika McGriff last October after a confrontation outside a charter school and the arrest of Will McNeil Jr. in February 2025 after an officer punched out his car window, then hit him.
Here are the arrest reports for Williams and Brinkley:
