The Kentucky police officer that arrested No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler finally broke his silence on Thursday, calling it a "chaotic situation for everyone involved" and discussing his "freaking $80 pants."
Scheffler, 27, was attempting to enter the Valhalla Golf Club in the early morning of May 17 in Louisville, Kentucky, to compete in Round 2 of the PGA Championship. He was detained around 6 a.m. for allegedly driving through a police cordon at the site of a fatal car accident outside of the golf club.
The accident was not related to Scheffler. A man, who worked at Valhalla, died.
Detective Bryan Gillis stands by the fact that he was "drug by the car" and "went to the ground."
"I received visible injuries to my knees and wrist," Gillis wrote in a statement. "I'm going to recover from it, and it will be ok."
Social media is poking fun at Gillis mentioning his pants that "were indeed ruined."
"Yes, the department has us buying freaking $80 pants," Gillis wrote in a postscript. "But Scottie, it's all good. I never would've guessed I'd have the most famous pair of pants in the country for a few weeks because of this."
Gillis, who has worked at the police department for about 20 years, said that is the "extent" of his commentary on the incident.
The Louisville Metro Police Department released two videos last week, including one from a dash camera from a police car that showed a long line of cars passing the officers and their vehicles throughout the morning.
Officers stopped traffic momentarily, moving some of their cars and the bus that was involved in the crash. A van goes around the bus and through where the police are at 6 a.m. One officer was waving on the van. The situation after is not seen in the dash camera's view.
Another car had gone the same direction prior to the bus moving just a minute prior. An officer motioned with his arms for where that car should go.
In the second released video, from the road, the car is seen making its way through the police. One officer runs up to the vehicle and seems to throw himself onto the front door. The officer continuously reaches into the window of the driver's seat, even putting his head and shoulders through the window. After the officer emerges, other officers surround the car as well.
The car did not move again once the officer was interacting with it.
Gillis grabbed a hold of the car and Scheffler allegedly dragged him for several yards.
Gillis was injured when Scheffler "refused to comply" with instructions and "accelerated forward," according to the incident report. Gillis, however, did not activate his body camera.
"Due to the confusion in the area at the time, his sense of urgency in responding to the fatal MVA and expediting traffic for the PGA championship, he failed to comply with powering it on," according to comments from Gillis's supervisor, Jeremy Allen.
Louisville Metro Police Department policy requires officers to "maintain their [body cameras] in a constant state of operational readiness" and for them to "immediately activate their [cameras] in recording mode prior to engaging in all law enforcement activities or encounters."
At a press conference last week, Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel and Mayor Craig Greenberg announced how they "want to move forward" especially now that Gillis has gone through "corrective action for" the body camera policy.
Prosecutors dropped the charges against Scheffler Wednesday. Jefferson County Attorney Mike O'Connell pointed to laws in Kentucky that require prosecutors to "refrain from prosecuting charge the prosecutor knows is not probable." He said Scheffler's claim that the incident was a "big misunderstanding" is corroborated with the evidence.
Scheffler said in a statement Wednesday that he holds "no ill will toward Officer Gillis" and wishes to put this "incident behind me and move on."
"The reality is that there are more important things in the world right now than a back-and-forth over this," his statement said. "At the end of the day, I take pride in working for the people in the community to preserve their safety."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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