Louisville police released two video clips on Thursday of golfer Scottie Scheffler’s arrest, showing his car crawling slowly through a crash scene before a cop chased after him, whacked his windshield, and hauled him out of the driver’s seat to handcuff him.
Scheffler was arrested as he was on his way to the PGA Championships at about 6 a.m. last Friday. He was accused of injuring a cop who was directing traffic at the scene of the fatal crash, and was charged with felony second-degree assault on a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding signals from officers directing traffic.
The clips released on Thursday—one from a dash-cam and one from a fixed pole—offer only part of the story but appear to bolster suggestions that the situation was an overreaction. The initial interaction between Scheffler and the cop was not captured because Detective Bryan Gillis didn’t turn his body-cam on, in violation of departmental procedures. The force took “corrective action” against him, Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said Thursday.
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The footage from the pole shows Scheffler’s car slowly rolling towards the entrance to the Valhalla Golf Club. Earlier that morning, a shuttle bus had struck and killed a pedestrian outside the gates. A cop can be seen chasing after Scheffler’s car and hitting it just as it comes to a stop.
The dash-cam footage shows Scheffler’s black Lexus going around a bus and the officer running him down and arresting him.
ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington, who was on the scene, reported that Scheffler mistook the cops for security officers. When officers told him to stop and he didn’t, “the police officer attached himself to the vehicle. Scheffler then traveled another 10 yards before stopping the car,” Darlington said.
Scheffler later said it was “a very chaotic situation” and “there was a big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do. I never intended to disregard any of the instructions.”
The officer claimed he was left with “pain, swelling and abrasions to left wrist and knee,” according to an incident report viewed by TMZ, and that his $80 pants were ruined.
After having his mugshot taken and warming up in jail, Scheffler still made it back to the golf course in time.
