Cops escape criminal charges after video shows them breaking window and punching man in face during traffic stop
Florida police officers have escaped criminal charges after breaking a man’s car window and punching him in the face multiple times during a traffic stop.
William McNeil Jr., a 22-year-old Black man, was pulled over by Jacksonville officer D. Bowers in February. McNeil used his phone to capture footage of the traffic stop, which went viral this month on social media.
McNeil’s attorney, Harry Daniels, says he was not a threat to officers, explaining the 22-year-old is “afraid” and noting that in “this environment…young men of color are very afraid of police.”
Meanwhile, the Florida State Attorney’s Office has concluded the officers did not violate any criminal laws. The sheriff’s office is now conducting “administrative reviews” of the incident, which will determine if the deputies violated agency policy, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said Monday.
The Independent has contacted McNeil’s attorneys and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for comment.
Cell phone footage shows officer hitting McNeil
McNeil was pulled over just after 4 p.m. on February 19 because he didn’t have his headlights on during “inclement weather,” according to a police report obtained by ABC News.
The video begins with McNeil telling an off-screen police officer that his driver-side window does not work and that he did not have his headlights on because it wasn’t raining.
The off-screen officer told him the rain didn’t matter and that headlights were required anyway. McNeil asked the officer to “pull that law up”, which states headlights are required. The officer said he would do so after McNeil steps out of the vehicle.
McNeil then asked the off-screen officer to call his supervisor. Moments later, Bowers — who was standing on the driver’s side — broke the window, shouted “exit the vehicle,” and hit McNeil on the side of his face. McNeil was facing forward when Bowers hit him.
Bowers then told McNeil to “show me your hands,” which he did. Another officer unclicked McNeil’s seatbelt and pulled him out of the car by his arm. McNeil was struck again as a group of several officers, including Bowers, pushed him to the ground.
Police respond and release body camera footage of the incident
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office released body camera footage of the incident on Monday, which showed the initial minutes of the traffic stop that the cell phone footage didn’t capture.
The footage shows that McNeil opened his car door as Bowers approached the car. Bowers asked why McNeil opened the door. McNeil replied that the driver-side window didn’t work. Bowers told McNeil he pulled him over because he didn’t have his lights on during inclement weather, and because he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt.
Bowers asked for McNeil’s license and registration. McNeil refused and asked Bowers to call his supervisor. Bowers called for backup and said he had an uncooperative driver. McNeil shut the car door soon afterward.
After some back-and-forth, Bowers told McNeil he was arresting him for “resisting.” Once back-up arrived, Bowers repeatedly told McNeil he was under arrest and that he would break the window if McNeil didn’t get out of the car.
Bowers has been “stripped of his law enforcement authority” pending the outcome of an administrative review, according to Waters.
“Force absolutely looks ugly, and because all force is ugly, whether or not the officer involved acted within outside JSO policy, that’s still what we’re investigating,” Waters said.
McNeil’s arrest report states the 22-year-old at one point “was reaching for the floorboard of the vehicle where a large knife was sitting,” First Coast News reports. Daniels told the outlet that “the narrative in this report isn’t just suspicious, it is completely divorced from reality.”
Waters released a photo of the knife but said he can’t confirm whether the arrest report is true.
“All I can go by when I read those things is what’s stated in the report,” he said. “I’m not saying whether it’s true or whether it’s not, I’m saying no one sees his hands at that point.”
McNeil was charged with resisting arrest, marijuana possession, driving with a suspended license, not wearing a seatbelt and driving without headlights, ABC News reports. Waters said McNeil pleaded guilty to “resisting a police officer without violence.” He spent two days in jail, ABC News reports.
The sheriff’s office also released a “Response-to-Resistance” report explaining why officers used force, from their perspectives, according to First Coast News. Bowers said that he used force to protect himself and others, as well as to “overcome resistance,” the outlet reports.
McNeil took months to recover, attorney says
Daniels told ABC News that his client is scared following the incident.
“He is afraid,” Daniels said. “You know, in this environment, policing in America, especially young men of color, are very afraid of police.”
McNeil suffered a “closed-head injury” and received nine stitches after a tooth went through his lip, Daniels told First Coast News. It took him months to recover.
“That officer that punched and beat him and the ones who watched and did nothing should be held to the same rule of law that everyone else is held to. Arrest and prosecution. That’s a perfect world,” Daniels said.
When asked if McNeil is going to pursue legal action, Daniels said his client is seeking “all options to ensure accountability.”
“We are planning to do everything we can do to secure justice. We are seeking all options to ensure accountability,” Daniels told ABC News.
