Caught on video: Jacksonville officer attacked in Brooklyn; police say person has been arrested

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville police officer was attacked in the Brooklyn area on Thursday night and it was caught on video.

Video of the confrontation was posted on Duval Promo’s social media. In the video, a large crowd surrounds the officer. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said the officer is OK.

JSO also confirmed that an arrest was made in the attack.

Action News Jax Law and Safety Expert Dale Carson said the attack is unusual.

Ryan spoke with Steve Zona, president of the Fraternal Order of Police in Jacksonville. He said the officer was responding to a report of gunfire and if there are reports of gunfire or an active shooter, the officer didn’t want to wait.

He worked his way toward the crowd. When he did, he was greeted by the crowd seen in the video.

Toward the end of the video, the officer falls to the ground while several people are attacking him.

Carson and Zona both said while the situation escalated quickly, the proper protocols were followed.

“An arrest was made and this was ultimately quelled as it should have been,” Carson said..

The video shows the officer with a shoulder weapon strapped behind his back, but it was never used.

Steve Zona is with the local police union and said the officer was responding to a “shots fired” call and worked his way towards a crowd of where he thought the shots were coming from.

“Our police officer was actually responding to a report of gunshots, shots being fired,” Zona said. “So, equate that to a potential active shooter situation.”

Zona says he was greeted by what you see in the video.

“Where he got down there to try and get people to disperse, one of the people from the crowd actually attacked our police officer,” Zona said.

Towards the end of the video you can see the officer fall to the ground while he is being attacked.

Zona says while it’s a sad situation to see nobody help the officer, he says it doesn’t represent the city of Jacksonville.

“We have tremendous support here in the community and I don’t think what happened to our police officer is a direct reflection of our community here in Jacksonville, I say its a direct reflection of the people there,” Zona said.

Action News Jax is working to learn more about this incident, we have requested the police report and waiting on it to come back.

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