Prosecutors clear Florida deputy in arrest of a Black man punched and dragged from his car
The actions of Officer D. Bowers of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office did not constitute a crime, according to an investigative report released by the State Attorney's Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida.
A video showing officers punching and dragging William McNeil from his car sparked nationwide outrage, though Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters has said there's more to the story than the cellphone video that went viral online and that McNeil was repeatedly asked to exit his vehicle.
In the investigative memo released Wednesday, prosecutors called the cellphone footage 'incomplete in scope' and said Bowers made a lawful traffic stop when he pulled McNeil over and that Bowers' use of force was justified.
'The State Attorney's Office has reviewed this matter to determine whether any of Officer Bowers' actions constitute a crime. We conclude they do not,' the report reads.
According to the report, Bowers stopped McNeil for failing to turn on his headlights and buckle his seatbelt, after seeing his SUV parked outside a house the officer was surveilling for 'drug activity.'
Based on a review of officer body camera footage, interviews the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office conducted with the officers involved and statements by McNeil, prosecutors said Bowers gave McNeil a dozen 'lawful commands,' which he disobeyed.
After Bowers pulled him over, McNeil questioned the stop and declined to provide his license and registration. Though he earlier had his car door open while talking with an officer, he later closed it and appeared to keep it locked for about three minutes before the officers forcibly removed him, the video shows.
'It is the officers' body-worn camera footage that provides the additional needed context of the circumstances preceding, surrounding, and following McNeil's arrest,' the report reads.
A statement from McNeil's lawyers, Ben Crump and Harry Daniels, called the report clearing the deputy 'little more than an attempt to justify the actions of Officer Bowers and his fellow officers after the fact.' Crump is a Black civil rights attorney who has gained national prominence representing victims of police brutality and vigilante violence.
'Frankly, we expected nothing less especially after Sheriff Waters announced their conclusions more than three weeks before the report was issued,' the statement said. '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.'
Previously, Crump has fiercely criticized prosecutors' finding that officers did not commit any criminal wrongdoing, saying his client remained calm while the officers who are trained to deescalate tense situations were the ones escalating violence. Crump said the case harkened back to the Civil Rights movement, when Black people were often attacked when they tried to assert their rights.
___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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