A police officer who arrested world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler was disciplined for not having his body camera on during the incident.
Scheffler was dramatically stopped heading into the second round of the PGA Championship last Friday in Louisville, Kentucky, after he reportedly attempted to navigate a traffic jam outside Valhalla Golf Club caused by a fatal crash.
The 27-year-old later said he was “disturbed” by the experience, in which he was charged and a mugshot published showing him dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit.
Louisville Detective Bryan Gillis has now been subject to “corrective action” for failing to activate his body-worn camera during the pre-dawn encounter in which he claimed he was “dragged/hit by the driver.”
Police have already released street camera video that appears to show Scheffler’s car turning into the entrance to the golf club, prompting an officer to run toward the vehicle and apparently hit it as it stopped.
The camera is too far away to capture all the details of the incident.
Another video released by authorities from the dashboard camera of a police vehicle shows Scheffler in handcuffs as officers lead him away.
Scheffler was arrested on charges of injuring Gillis and disobeying orders, but the golfer said he “never intended to ignore any instructions” and that the incident was caused by a “major misunderstanding.”
Scheffler’s attorney, Steve Romines, has said his client was not at fault.
“Our position is the same as last Friday, Scottie Scheffler did nothing wrong, we are not interested in solving the case,” Romines said.
“Either we try it or it will be scrapped.”
Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel says the officer violated policy. Photo: AP
The city’s police chief noted that officers are expected to keep their body cameras in a “constant state of operational readiness.”
Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel, Chief of the Louisville Metro Police Department, said, “Detective Gillis should have turned on his body-worn camera, but he did not.
“Failure to do so is a violation of LMPD policy on uniforms and equipment.”
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An internal investigation report said Detective Gillis should have at least had his camera on standby while directing traffic before the incident with Scheffler.
Chief Gwinn-Villaroel said the officer had “received corrective action” for the violation.
He had to fill out a “do not search” form as required by policy, was “counseled by a member of his command,” and had a “performance observation” completed.
Steve Romines maintains that his client “did nothing wrong.” AP Image
Detective Gillis had said he was asked to respond to a fatal crash in Valhalla when he saw Scheffler’s vehicle “traveling in the opposite lanes coming toward me.”
Gillis, who approached Scheffler’s car on foot, wrote in an arrest report that the driver “refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging him” to the ground.
He said his uniform pants were damaged in the fall and he was taken to the hospital for his injuries.
Just a few hours later, after being led away in handcuffs and spending time in jail, Scheffler returned to the golf course and ultimately finished the tournament tied for eighth on Sunday, which was enough to secure prize money of around $520,000 (£409,000).
He is due back in Louisville on June 3 to face four charges, including felony second-degree assault on a police officer.
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Louisville Police’s current body camera policy was introduced following controversy in 2020 after officers shot Breonna Taylora 26-year-old black woman who was murdered during a botched drug raid.
At the time, the plainclothes officers who served the warrant and shot Taylor were not required to wear body cameras.
The new policy required all officers to turn on their cameras “prior to participating in all police activities and encounters.”
The police chief at the time of Taylor’s death was later fired when officers at the scene of another fatal shooting failed to turn on their body cameras.
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