Viral Video Shows Fla. Officers Punch Black Man After He Questions Why Headlights Were Required in Daylight
Authorities in Florida have launched an investigation into a viral video that shows an officer smash a car window and hit a Black driver in the face during a February traffic stop.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said in a statement that it had launched an internal probe of the video depicting William McNeil, Jr.'s arrest and the circumstances surrounding it. The video was released on July 20 by McNeil's attorneys, Ben Crump and Harry Daniels.
"It is not uncommon for young African American men to be afraid of the police when they encounter us, considering the history of what's happening in this country and what's happened in recent years with police encounters," Daniels tells PEOPLE. "So he was very suspicious, afraid. So he decided to prop his phone and record it. They didn't know he was recording."
The two-minute video shows McNeil questioning why he was being pulled over for not having his taillights on before an officer break the driver's side window and twice tells McNeil to 'exit the vehicle' before hitting him in his face. McNeil complies with an order to show the officers his hands and remains seated in the SUV.
Another officer then opens the driver's side door, unbuckles McNeil's seatbelt and pulls him out of the SUV as McNeil repeatedly asks, "What is your reason?"
The same officer who broke the driver's side window can be seen punching McNeil in the face as he's taken to the ground, and another officer can be heard shouting, 'Stop fighting.'
According to McNeil's arrest report, an officer says he observed him driving without his headlights or taillights on in inclement weather and not wearing his seatbelt. The report says that after he was stopped, McNeil 'immediately became verbally combative' and 'refused to listen to' the explanation for the stop, prompting the officer to request back up.
The report says McNeil refused to exit the vehicle or provide his identification, locked the driver's side door and was given 'several warnings' before the window was broken.
Marijuana was found, as well as a large knife on the drivers' seat floor that McNeil allegedly reached for as he was pulled from the SUV, per the report.
McNeil reported that his tooth was chipped after he was handcuffed and an officer observed blood on his mouth, the report also says.
McNeil was 'adjudicated guilty' of resisting an officer without violence and driving with a suspended license, while the citations for not wearing a seatbelt and driving without headlights were dismissed, court records show.
Daniels tells PEOPLE that when McNeil was hit, his tooth went through his lip — requiring multiple stitches — his tooth was chipped, he sustained a concussion and now has short-term memory issues.
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