Jacksonville police are reviewing a traffic stop and arrest that inflamed an online audience, but prosecutors have decided the arresting officer didn’t commit any crimes, Sheriff T.K. Waters said July 21.
“One video devoid of context can be very misleading,” Waters told reporters after screening bodycam footage from three officers connected to the Feb. 19 arrest of William Anthony McNeil Jr.
Video shot inside McNeil’s car, apparently recorded by the driver, prompted almost 2,000 comments and thousands of “likes” after being posted on Instagram and drawing attention to the encounter which ended with a window being broken on the locked car door and McNeil ending up on the ground under officers’ control.
McNeil, 22, retained civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Harry Daniels, the lawyers’ publicist reported in a email where the pair called for public release of video of the arrest.
“This wasn’t law enforcement, it was brutality. All video from JSO should be released to ensure there is transparency for McNeil and the community,” said a statement attributed to “the legal team.” It added that “We demand full accountability from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and justice for William McNeil Jr.”
Two days after his arrest, McNeil pleaded guilty to resisting police without violence and driving with a suspended license, court records show. He was sentenced to two days already served in jail and a misdemeanor marijuana charge was dropped.
During an evening news conference, the sheriff said he knew nothing of McNeil’s arrest until July 20 when he was notified about a social media post describing the arrest but showing only a portion of the encounter.
He said McNeil had done enough within the first 21 seconds of his contact with police to justify a resisting charge but the Sheriff’s Office was still looking at whether there had been problems with the police response that should be addressed administratively.
The sheriff said McNeil hadn’t filed a complaint about his handling during the arrest. If he had, Waters said, “we would have been all over” that.
Waters said he could neither condone nor condemn officer actions during the stop and arrest because it was still under review by his agency.
The video Waters released followed Officer D.J. Bowers’ engagement with McNeil, whom Bowers told he had stopped around Commonwealth Avenue for not having headlights on during “inclement weather.”
After McNeil said headlights weren’t needed and Bowers told him to step out of the vehicle, McNeil answered “no, no” and told the officer to call his supervisor.
“Uncooperative adult driver,” Bower said into his radio, apparently advising someone of the situation. Again being told to step out, the driver answered no and closed the door. Bowers put his hand on the door and radioed that it was locked.
About 45 seconds later, Bowers said “right now, you’re under arrest for resisting. … The longer you take … the worse it’s gonna be.”
“Open the door and exit or we are going to break the window,” Bowers said about 35 seconds later, then repeatedly ordered the driver to open the door and said the driver was under arrest for resisting.
More than two minutes later, after more officers arrived and another officer talked to McNeil and told him he had to get out, Bowers told a colleague he was about to break the window and was told “all right, go for it” and smashed the window, unlocking the door and pulling the driver out.
Video from McNeil’s appeared to show his head was hit by a hand or fist before he got out of the car, then again during a scuffle, and he ended up on the ground with several officers around him, one of whom radioed for a rescue unit to look at a cut on his lip.
(This story has been updated with a photo gallery.)
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Jacksonville sheriff airs video of traffic stop arrest after stressing need for ‘context’
Reporting by Steve Patterson, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
