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This week, college student William McNeil Jr. sued the Florida sheriff’s deputies who attacked him during a traffic stop earlier this year, along with the sheriff and the city of Jacksonville, after prosecutors declined to file criminal charges.
At a press conference held this week, McNeil said, “I hope my story gets heard today.”
McNeil, who is 22, filmed the violent arrest with his cell phone. On February 19, an officer, later publicly identified as D. Bowers of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, stopped McNeil, who is Black, allegedly for not wearing a seatbelt and not having his headlights on due to “inclement weather,” although it was not raining. Bowers also had his headlights off, according to the complaint.
McNeil asked the officer why he had been stopped and requested that he call a supervisor. McNeil remained in his car.
Video of the attack shows Bowers breaking the window of McNeil’s car as McNeil sits and looks straight ahead. Bowers then punches him, drags him from the car, and punches him again. Several officers violently tackle McNeil to the ground. According to the complaint, Bowers slammed McNeil’s head into the pavement, and a second officer repeatedly hit McNeil in the back. As a result of the attack, McNeil was diagnosed with an ongoing traumatic brain injury.
“I don’t drive anymore,” McNeil told ABC News in a recent interview. “Just because I don’t trust cops anymore. I’m still scared. I can’t get sleep at night because of trauma. I have flashbacks and nightmares.”
“I feared for my life,” he added.
Bowers, who is white, was suspended, but not criminally charged. The State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida claimed that Bowers “conducted a lawful traffic stop and gave McNeil 12 individual lawful commands, which McNeil refused to obey.” The officers’ union also defended Bowers.
“When you allow due process and thorough investigations to occur you get facts and evidence,” the union posted on its Facebook page after prosecutors announced they would not be filing charges. “Not emotions, agendas and politics being pushed by radical people in our community and some elected officials who felt like they had to hear themselves speak before all the facts were known.”
McNeil’s attorneys have called for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the officers’ actions, although considering the current direction of the department, that seems unlikely to occur. Since Trump took office, DOJ has ended its investigations into several police departments accused of civil rights violations.
In May, DOJ announced it was dismissing lawsuits against the Louisville, Kentucky, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, police departments. The department also ended civil rights investigations into police departments in Phoenix, Arizona; Trenton, New Jersey; Memphis, Tennessee; Mount Vernon, New York; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as well as the Louisiana State Police.
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