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Residents demand accountability after video of officer beating, push for "people's budget" and police oversight
Summary
Public commenters filled the council’s public-comment period to demand action after a widely circulated video showed a man, identified as William McNeil Jr., being beaten during a traffic stop; speakers called for cuts to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office budget, alternatives to incarceration and a "people’s budget."
Dozens of residents used the public-comment period at the Jacksonville City Council meeting to call for accountability after video of a police beating circulated nationally, press the council to rescind a 2023 pro-Israel resolution and to shift city spending away from an expanded police budget toward housing, mental-health and community services.
Speakers described the viral footage of an encounter involving a man identified in testimony as William McNeil Jr., criticized the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) and Sheriff T.K. Waters, and urged the council to withhold increases to JSO’s proposed budget (figures cited by speakers ranged around $638 million). Multiple callers demanded a public-safety committee, independent investigations and a people’s…
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