A Jacksonville, Florida, sheriff’s officer who was caught on camera hitting a Black man in the face during a traffic stop in February did not break any laws, said the State Attorney’s Office.
According to Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters, the State Attorney’s Office has cleared Officer Donald Bowers and the other officers involved in William McNeil Jr.’s arrest on February 19 of any misconduct. Bowers broke the driver’s side window and punched McNeil when he refused to get out of the SUV he was driving, per a video that McNeil took.
Videos from Bowers’ body-worn camera and those of two assisting officers were made public by Waters at a news conference on July 21; however, none of these videos showed Bowers hitting McNeil.
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McNeil used his cellphone, mounted on the SUV’s dashboard, to shoot a two-minute video of the traffic stop. According to People, Sheriff Waters stated that the video “does not comprehensively capture the circumstances surrounding the incident,” including what happened before McNeil was arrested.
Waters reported that McNeil received seven warnings to get out of his car and warned that if he didn’t, police would smash his car window. He also allegedly refused to show his driver’s license or registration. Waters stated that McNeil’s alleged “non-compliance” “quickly rose to the level of criminal resistance to a police officer.
“There are not options,” Waters said at the news conference. “If you disagree, take care of it someplace else but not on the side of the road.”
In McNeil’s viral video, he claims he was pulled over because his headlights were turned off despite the fact that it was still daylight and not raining, to which an off-camera officer responds, “It doesn’t matter, you’re still required to have headlights on.”
Then, while wearing a seatbelt, McNeil requests that the officer show him the law he was referencing and demands that he talk with a supervisor. Bowers then breaks the driver’s side window, hits McNeil in the face, and orders him to show his hands and exit the car.
According to Waters, Bowers’ response is being examined internally to see if it violates department protocol. The sheriff’s office informed People that Bowers has been administratively reassigned while the assessment is being conducted.
Waters said he became aware of McNeil’s video after his attorneys, Ben Crump and Harry Daniels, released it and it went viral.
“We were not aware of this allegation or of improper use of force before this weekend,” Waters declared.
During the news conference, Waters said that it was unclear from any of the footage if McNeil had actually grabbed for the SUV’s floor, “where a large knife was sitting,” as stated in his arrest report that People was able to obtain.
According to court documents, McNeil was arrested and pleaded guilty to resisting a police officer without violence and driving while his license was suspended. The records also reveal that two drug-related offenses and fines for not wearing a seatbelt and driving without headlights were dropped..
Meanwhile, according to CNN, McNeil’s attorney Daniels said he felt outraged but not surprised by the actions of the officers.
“The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has a long history of this kind of needless violence and brutality,” Daniels said in a press release.
“It should be obvious to anyone watching this video that William McNeil wasn’t a threat to anyone,” Crump added. “He was calmly exercising his constitutional rights, and they beat him for it.”
