[PHOTO: Darren Carroll/PGA of America]
Louisville’s mayor said on Saturday that the police officer who arrested Scottie Scheffler either wasn’t wearing a body camera or didn’t have it activated at the time of the incident.
Scheffler was arrested on Friday morning at Valhalla and charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, criminal mischief and reckless driving. Scheffler called the event a misunderstanding, although arresting officer detective Bryan Gillis, said he was dragged by Scheffler’s car, which led to injury and damage of Gillis’ pants. Scheffler’s lawyer disputed the nature of the incident.
“[Scheffler] was proceeding as directed by another traffic officer and driving a marked player’s vehicle with credentials visible,” said Scheffler’s attorney Steve Romines. “In the confusion, Scottie is alleged to have disregarded a different officer’s traffic signals resulting in these charges. Multiple eyewitnesses have confirmed that he did not do anything wrong but was simply proceeding as directed. He stopped immediately upon being directed to and never at any point assaulted any officer with his vehicle. We will litigate this matter as needed and he will be completely exonerated.”
It appears the situation will not be cleared up by police footage. On Saturday, Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg told local news outlets that Gillis did not have his video camera on.
“The officer did not have a bodycam footage turned on during the incident; we will release the footage that we have,” Greenberg said to Louisville’s WDRB. “We did not have any… to my knowledge. We have not had discovered any video of the initial contact between officer Gillis and Mr Scheffler.”
Greenberg later added there was a camera across the street, with the hope that it showed when Scheffler was arrested that will eventually be released.
Scheffler returned to Valhalla and shot a second-round 66. A day later, his third-round 73 ended his incredible streak of consecutive rounds of shooting par or better at 42. He sits seven-under and eight shots off the 54-hole PGA Championship lead.
