Video of Jacksonville sheriff’s officer hitting man in face during traffic stop prompts investigation

A newly launched video of a February visitors cease displaying officers in Jacksonville, Florida, arresting a person after considered one of them broke his automobile window and hit him within the face has prompted an investigation into the officers’ use of power. 

William McNeil Jr. posted the video he had recorded to social media on Sunday, saying he was pulled over on Feb. 19. Within the video, an officer from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Workplace tells McNeil he was pulled over as a result of his headlights had been off. McNeil, 22, tells the officer that different drivers additionally had their headlights off and requested to talk to a supervisor, and that is when “issues escalated rapidly as you possibly can see,” he wrote on Instagram.

The video then exhibits an officer smashing McNeil’s driver’s facet window, demanding he get out of the automobile and hitting him within the face. The officers then open McNeil’s automobile door and pull him out.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said Monday that it is investigating the incident after it was made conscious of the video circulating on-line, though the assertion famous that “the State Legal professional’s Workplace has decided that not one of the concerned officers violated legal regulation.” The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Workplace stated it started each a legal and administrative evaluate of the officers’ actions. The executive critiques are ongoing, the sheriff’s workplace stated.

“That day, I simply actually needed to know why I used to be getting pulled over, and why I wanted to step out of the automobile,” McNeil stated at a information convention Tuesday. “I used to be actually simply scared. And that is it.”

Civil rights legal professional Ben Crump, who’s representing McNeil, described the state of affairs as “a traditional case of driving whereas Black” on the information convention. He known as the incident “a disturbing reminder” that asking for primary rights, like why McNeil was pulled over, “will be met with violence for Black Individuals.”

At Tuesday’s information convention, Crump stated “there was no rhyme or motive” for officers to cease McNeil in his automobile and urged the Jacksonville sheriff to terminate the officer accountable for McNeil’s accidents. 

“Take a look at that video along with your eyes. Pay attention with your individual ears. We’ve audio, visible proof, proof of what occurred,” Crump stated.

Each he and legal professional Harry Daniels, who’s additionally representing McNeil, pointed to the 22-year-old’s tutorial document in addition to his composure through the February confrontation as they argued that regulation enforcement used extreme power, that the power was racially motivated, and that each are byproducts of “the tradition” of the Jacksonville sheriff’s workplace.

“They all the time have this narrative being, he was a thug, he was a legal. However William was doing all the pieces proper,” Daniels stated, noting that McNeil had acquired a scholarship to check at Livingstone School, a Traditionally Black School or College (HBCU) in North Carolina. McNeil’s mom and stepfather additionally appeared on the briefing, delivering emotional remarks earlier than McNeil himself spoke briefly. 

CBS News has reached out to the Florida State Legal professional’s Workplace for remark.

Within the arrest report, supplied to CBS News by McNeil’s attorneys, officer D. Bowers stated McNeil wasn’t carrying his seatbelt when he pulled him over for allegedly not having his headlights on in inclement climate. The officer wrote that he requested McNeil for his driver’s license, registration and proof of insurance coverage quite a few instances, which he stated McNeil refused, so Bowers known as for backup.

“The suspect continued to refuse to conform, at which period I broke the motive force’s window and opened the motive force’s door. I together with different officers on scene eliminated the suspect from the car,” Bowers stated within the arrest report. “The suspect was reaching for the ground board of the car the place a big knife was sitting.”

McNeil was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, in addition to resisting an officer with out violence, in keeping with the arrest report. He pleaded responsible to and was adjudicated responsible of resisting a police officer with out violence and driving on a suspended driver’s license, Jacksonville Sheriff T.Ok. Waters stated.

Throughout a information convention Monday, Waters launched physique digital camera footage from the February incident and stated the viral arrest video “doesn’t comprehensively seize the circumstances surrounding this incident” and it “didn’t seize the occasions that preceded Officer Bowers’s determination to arrest McNeil.”

The sheriff’s workplace additionally posted a picture of the knife as seen in one of many officers’ bodycam video on Monday.

Bowers’ body camera footage exhibits the officer asking McNeil why he opened his door as a substitute of rolling down his window. Within the footage, McNeil says his window would not work, and Bowers then asks for McNeil’s identification one time earlier than telling him to get out of the automobile.

McNeil, who questioned why he was pulled over, responds “no” and shuts his door. He then asks the officer to name his supervisor, and that is when Bowers known as for different responding officers, considered one of whom is heard speaking to McNeil from the passenger’s facet of the car in McNeil’s video.

Waters stated Bowers has been stripped of responsibility amid an inside investigation. He didn’t touch upon Bowers’ actions, however stated “the regulation is obvious.” 

“An individual should adjust to an officer’s instructions, even when that particular person disagrees with that officer’s causes for the cease,” Waters stated. He added that the sheriff’s workplace had not acquired a grievance from McNeil and was unaware of the allegations previous to him posting the video.

Crump famous Monday that McNeil was carrying his seatbelt in his video, however it’s unclear from Bowers’ physique digital camera footage whether or not McNeil was carrying his seatbelt when he was first pulled over. The legal professional additionally disputed that McNeil was ever combative or that he was reaching for a knife, including that the arrest report additionally failed to say that the officer hit McNeil.

“The narrative on this report is not simply suspicious. It’s utterly divorced from actuality. Not solely is he clearly carrying his seatbelt within the video, he by no means reaches for something,” Crump stated in an announcement. “Actually, the one time he strikes in any respect is when the officer knocks him over by punching him in his face. Then this younger man calmly sits again straight and holds his empty fingers up.”

McNeil stated his tooth was chipped and he wanted a number of stitches in his lips on account of the arrest. He additionally stated he suffered a concussion and short-term reminiscence loss. 

In his video caption, he wrote: “This was very arduous to do I am not mentally healed from this however I needed to get the phrase out ultimately and if I pushed you away or modified greater than seemingly because of this …”