A viral video from a traffic stop in February shows an officer smashing a car window and striking a Black driver in the face before removing him from a vehicle. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says it has opened an investigation into the incident.
A viral video that shows an officer smashing a car window and striking a Black driver in the face during a traffic stop in February has prompted Florida authorities to open an investigation.
IG Video here:
In a statement, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office announced that it had begun an internal investigation into the video showing William McNeil, Jr.’s arrest and the events leading up to it. On July 20, Ben Crump and Harry Daniels, McNeil’s lawyers, made the video public.
Daniels tells PEOPLE, “Given the history of what’s happening in this country and what’s happened in recent years with police encounters, it is not uncommon for young African American men to be afraid of the police when they encounter us.” He was therefore terrified and highly suspicious. He made the decision to record it by propping his phone up. They were unaware that he was recording.
Before an officer smashes the driver’s side window and repeatedly orders McNeil to “exit the vehicle” before striking him in the face, the two-minute video shows McNeil asking why he was stopped for not having his taillights on. McNeil stays seated in the SUV and obeys an order to show his hands to the officers.
Then, as McNeil keeps asking, “What is your reason?” another officer opens the driver’s side door, unbuckles McNeil’s seatbelt, and drags him out of the SUV.
As McNeil is being carried to the ground, the same officer who broke the driver’s side window is seen punching him in the face while another officer yells, “Stop fighting.”
McNeil’s arrest report states that an officer saw him driving in bad weather without his seatbelt on and without his headlights or taillights on. The officer requested backup after McNeil “immediately became verbally combative” and “refused to listen to” the reason for the stop, according to the report.
According to the report, marijuana and a big knife that McNeil allegedly reached for while being dragged out of the SUV were discovered on the floor of the driver’s seat.
According to the report, McNeil locked the driver’s side door, refused to get out of the car or show his identification, and received “several warnings” before the window broke.
The report also states that after being handcuffed and an officer seeing blood on his mouth, McNeil reported that his tooth was chipped.
According to court documents, McNeil was “adjudicated guilty” of driving with a suspended license and resisting an officer without using force, while the citations for failing to use a seatbelt and driving without headlights were thrown out.
Daniels tells PEOPLE that McNeil suffered a concussion, his tooth chipped, his tooth went through his lip (needing several stitches), and he now has short-term memory problems.
