The mayor of a Florida city where cops were caught on camera smashing a driver’s window because he did not have his headlights on has weighed in on the controversy.
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said she understands the public’s frustration with the events surrounding William McNeil Jr.’s arrest on February 19 – but urged civility as an investigation into the incident continues.
In the dashboard footage, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officers were seen breaking McNeil’s window, punching him in the face, pulling him out of his car, then striking him again as they threw him to the ground to arrest him.
‘I understand the angst. I understand the upset, I get all of that,’ she said. ‘But at the end of the day, let’s wait and see where it all goes. Hopefully there’s a good resolution,’ Deegan told News4Jax.
‘I am a very pragmatic thinker when it comes to how these things go, and it’s not to diminish whatever happened there, I’m simply saying there has to be an investigative process,’ the mayor continued, adding that she has ‘faith that that process will be carried out.’
‘But I can’t really say much beyond that because there is a lawsuit that may happen,’ as McNeil has now retained famed civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump and Harry Daniels to represent him after they said his now-viral video sparked ‘outrage across the country.’
A police report obtained by News4Jax stated that McNeil, 22, was pulled over after an officer allegedly saw his headlights and taillights were off in inclement weather.
But when the video begins, McNeil expresses confusion about why he was pulled over with another officer, who is on the passenger side of his car.
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan has weighed in on the controversy surrounding William McNeil Jr.’s violent arrest
Dashboard footage from the February 19 arrest showed Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officers breaking McNeil’s window – even as he seemed to comply with their orders
‘When he pulled me over, he walked up and I opened my door because my window doesn’t work, and I said, “What did I do wrong?”‘ McNeil said.
‘He said, “Well, for one, your headlights are off under this weather.” I’m like there’s multiple people with their headlights off first of all, and then there’s no rain.’
The officer whom McNeil was talking to replied, ‘It doesn’t matter. You’re still required to have headlights on.’
McNeil asked the officer to show him the law that requires that, and the officer told him he would once he stepped out of the vehicle.
At that point, the college student asked the officer to call his supervisor – when Officer D. Bowen smashed his window and punched him in the face while shouting at him to exit the vehicle.
In the police report, Bowen alleged that he believed McNeil was reaching for a knife under his seat and was ‘continuing to pull away from officers’ during his arrest.
Yet McNeil’s video showed that when Bowen broke the window and punched McNeil asked him to show his hands, McNeil complied.
It also seemingly refuted Bowen’s claim that McNeil was not wearing his seatbelt – as the North Carolina college student could be seen with his buckle across his chest, and Bowen having to unbuckle it himself.
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan has waded into the controversy surrounding 22-year-old William McNeil Jr’s February arrest
Cops from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office broke McNeil’s window, punched him in the face, pulled him out of his car, then hit him again as they threw him to the ground
Once McNeil was free, he was pulled out of the car and was punched by a second officer, while a group of cops forced him to the ground.
An officer then shouted, ‘What is wrong with you?’ but when McNeil tried to reply that he was putting his hands behind his back, the cops told him to stop talking.
At a news conference on Wednesday, McNeil claimed he suffered from a concussion and a tooth fracture that required nine stitches in the aftermath.
‘That day I just really wanted to know why I was getting pulled over and why I needed to step out of the car,’ he said.
‘I didn’t do anything wrong. I was really just scared,’ McNeil insisted, though he ultimately pleaded guilty to resisting arrest without violence and driving with a suspended license, according to Fox 13.
His attorneys are now arguing the violent arrest was the result of racism – noting that McNeil is a black man and the arresting officers were white.
‘What happened to William McNeil Jr. is a disturbing reminder that even the most basic rights – like asking why you’ve been pulled over – can be met with violence for black Americans,’ they said in a statement.
The video showed that McNeil was wearing a seatbelt and the officers actually had to unbuckle him – despite a police report claiming he was driving without wearing a seatbelt
McNeil was punched again and after was pulled out of the car and told to stop talking while he tried to explain to cops that he was putting his hands behind his back
‘William was calm and compliant. Yet instead of answers, he got his window smashed and was punched in the face, all over a questionable claim about headlights in broad daylight.
‘This wasn’t law enforcement, it was brutality,’ the lawyers continued, urging the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to release all video from the incident.
‘We demand full accountability from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and justice for William McNeil Jr.’
Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters has since announced that he has instructed his department to begin both a criminal and administrative review of his officers’ actions.
‘These administrative reviews are ongoing, but the state attorney’s office has determined that none of the involved officers violated criminal law,’ he said as he released body camera footage from the incident.
McNeil claimed he suffered from a concussion and a tooth fracture that required nine stitches in the aftermath
Body camera footage showed McNeil had the door open when he was first pulled over
It showed McNeil had been repeatedly told to exit his vehicle when officers first pulled him over.
He had his car door open at the time – but he later closed it and appeared to keep it locked for about three minutes before the cops forcibly removed him.
‘Yes, there was force that was absolutely used by the arresting officers and yes, that force is ugly,’ the sheriff acknowledged.
‘The reality is that all force, all violence is ugly. Just because force is ugly does not mean it’s unlawful or contrary to policy.’
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also defended the officers’ actions, as he implied McNeil’s video was posted online to advance a ‘narrative’ and generate attention on social media.
‘That’s what happens in so many of these things. There’s a rush to judgment,’ he told The Hill.
‘There’s… a desire to try to get views and clicks by creating division.’
In the meantime, Mayor Deegan said she is asking the public ‘to be a little patient’ while the investigation continues.
