The attorneys for a Black college student who was pulled over and punched by deputies in Jacksonville, Florida, are urging the Department of Justice to investigate the traffic stop after the state attorney’s office cleared the officers of any criminal wrongdoing.
The Florida State Attorney’s Office released an investigative memo detailing their decision not to prosecute any of the deputies involved in the viral traffic stop of 22-year-old William McNeil Jr. on Feb. 19.
Cellphone video from McNeil’s car that was widely spread online and sparked nationwide outrage showed Jacksonville sheriff’s deputies breaking McNeil’s driver’s side window, punching him in the face, then dragging him out of the car while his hands were up.
McNeil was neither combative nor resistant, even when the officers began using physical force. At one point in the video, an officer is heard yelling, “Get on the ground,” and “stop fighting,” even though McNeil wasn’t resisting.
A deputy can also be seen grabbing his head and punching him in the chin before forcing him to the ground.
After footage of the stop went viral, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters announced that the State Attorney’s Office reviewed the matter and “determined that none of the involved officers violated criminal law.”
In their investigative memo, state prosecutors said the viral footage was “incomplete in scope” and that bodycam footage shows the circumstances leading up to the encounter in much more detail.
The memo recounts what led up to the traffic stop and specifies why the deputies’ use of force was justified.
State prosecutors said that Officer D. Bowers saw McNeil’s car at a home that was “actively being monitored for drug activity.” Bowers saw the car pull off and observed McNeil not wearing a seatbelt and not activating his headlights.
When he pulled McNeil over, McNeil opened his car door and told Bowers that his driver’s side window wasn’t working. After Bowers told McNeil why he pulled him over, McNeil questioned the basis of the stop. In footage of the stop, McNeil noted that it wasn’t raining and other cars did not have their headlights on.
He then asked Bowers to call a supervisor to the scene and remained in his vehicle.
Bowers called backup to the scene and kept demanding that McNeil get out of his car. McNeil repeatedly refused and continued to ask for a supervisor, according to the memo.
“Officer Bowers said he believed he was at a tactical disadvantage because McNeil had “essentially barricaded himself in his car,” the memo states.
In his interview with JSO’s Integrity Unit about the stop, Bowers noted that he couldn’t maintain sight of McNeil’s hands after McNeil locked himself inside the vehicle. Bowers said he saw McNeil reach for his center console and didn’t know whether McNeil was reaching for a weapon.
He told investigators that after he broke the window, he delivered a “distractionary” blow that wasn’t used to harm McNeil, but to take control of him since he knew he would have to unlock his driver’s side door from the inside and remove him.
He said he considered the distraction strike to be a “tool” he learned in police training, and not a “use of force.”
State prosecutors characterized the initial hit to McNeil’s face as “a one-time, open-handed strike” that “had a legitimate tactical purpose — to get McNeil out of the SUV and to show his hands, which McNeil did after the strike.”
When officers pulled McNeil from the car and forced him to the ground, Bowers delivered a closed-fist punch to McNeil that state attorneys said “was in response to McNeil’s physical resistance to the arrest.”
State attorneys said they’ve “reviewed this matter to determine whether any of Officer Bowers’ actions constitute a crime. We conclude they do not.”
“Officer Bowers conducted a lawful traffic stop and gave McNeil 12 individual lawful commands, which McNeil refused to obey. Repeatedly requesting a supervisor and arguing the merits of the traffic stop did not absolve McNeil from following lawful orders,” the memo continues. “McNeil’s refusal to provide his identification, registration, and proof of insurance, followed by his refusal to exit the SUV, show his hands, and obey the officers’ orders, created a dangerous situation for all involved.”
One noteworthy point the state attorney’s office does not fully address in its memo is what deputies initially reported when they found a large, serrated knife on McNeil’s car floorboard.
The police report stated that McNeil was “reaching for the floorboard of the vehicle where a large knife was sitting” as multiple officers tried to pull him out. It also says he “refused to place his hands behind his back,” prompting officers to use “physical force.”
The state attorney’s office confirmed a knife was discovered in McNeil’s car, but failed to acknowledge the part of the police report alleging McNeil reached for the weapon. Neither bodycam footage nor cellphone video shows McNeil reach for anything when he’s physically removed from the car.
The memo says that deputies also found marijuana in McNeil’s pocket and drug paraphernalia in the center console.
McNeil’s attorneys, Ben Crump and Harry Daniels, released a statement, calling the memo “little more than an attempt to justify the actions of Officer Bowers and his fellow officers after the fact.”
They added that since the memo ignores the “excessive force and false reporting” that took place during and after the traffic stop, they will request the Justice Department to conduct an independent investigation:
The Investigative Memo from the State Attorney’s Office from the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida is little more than an attempt to justify the actions of Officer Bowers and his fellow officers after the fact. Frankly, we expected nothing less especially after Sheriff Waters announced their conclusions more than three weeks before the report was issued. Since they are unwilling to seek justice, we will have to request that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate this incident and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Let’s be clear, the State Attorney’s Office never interviewed William McNeil. They did, however, try to excuse the fact that Officer Bowers failed to disclose his unlawful “distractionary strike.” They also tried to decriminalize Officer Bowers punching Mr. McNeil outside the vehicle and completely failed to mention the officers slamming Mr. McNeil’s face into the asphalt while he was under control and in custody. Furthermore, they ignored the multiple injuries including a broken tooth, a concussion and multiple stitches caused by the officers’ use of force.
Finally, the memo asks us to ignore our own eyes by accepting the officers’ excuse that Mr. McNeil was reaching for a knife in the floorboard when he is never seen reaching for anything in either the bodycamera video or the video posted on social media.
The simple fact is that this memo ignores exactly the kind of excessive force and false reporting that resulted in the United States Department of Justice indicting Camden County Sheriff’s Deputy Buck Aldridge. It only further illustrates why use of force cases involving the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office need to be conducted by an independent agency that is not beholden to either the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office or the State’s Attorney.
Great Job Yasmeen F. & the Team @ Atlanta Black Star Source link for sharing this story.
