Jacksonville: Authorities in Jacksonville have launched an investigation after a video surfaced showing a police officer breaking a car window and punching a Black driver during a traffic stop on February 19, media reports said on Wednesday. The video, posted on social media by 22-year-old William McNeil Jr., shows an officer informing him that he was stopped because his headlights were off.
According to Anadolu Agency, McNeil responds to the officer by pointing out that other drivers also had their lights off and requests the presence of a supervisor. The video proceeds to show an officer breaking the car window, ordering McNeil to exit the vehicle, and subsequently hitting him in the face.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office announced on Monday that an investigation into the incident is underway, although the State Attorney's Office concluded that the officers involved did not violate any laws. The sheriff's office has commenced both criminal and administrative reviews of the incident.
During a news conference on Tuesday, McNeil expressed his concerns, stating, "I just really wanted to know why I was getting pulled over and why I needed to step out of the car. I was really just scared." Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing McNeil, described the incident as "a classic case of driving while Black" and called for the officer responsible to be dismissed.
McNeil, a scholarship student at Livingstone College in North Carolina, sustained injuries including a chipped tooth, lip injuries requiring stitches, a concussion, and short-term memory loss. Sheriff T.K. Waters released bodycam footage on Monday, noting that it "does not comprehensively capture the circumstances." He stated that Officer D. Bowers, who has been relieved of duty, acted within the bounds of Florida law, which mandates compliance with officers' commands.
The arrest report indicated that McNeil refused to provide identification documents, leading officers to forcibly remove him after he allegedly reached toward a large knife on the car's floorboard. McNeil was charged with marijuana possession, resisting an officer without violence, and driving on a suspended license. He pleaded guilty to two charges.
Crump, however, denied the claims in the arrest report, asserting that McNeil "never reaches for anything" and was wearing a seatbelt in the video he recorded. He criticized the report's narrative as being "completely divorced from reality."
This incident is part of a series of recent occurrences across the United States that have reignited concerns about police use of force against unarmed civilians, especially during routine encounters. Other cases, such as the alleged fatal restraint of Phillip Reeder by an officer in Alabama and aggressive tactics used by ICE agents in Oregon, have drawn national scrutiny and renewed calls for accountability within the US law enforcement system.