JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Calling Will McNeil Jr.’s relatively calm demeanor during a violent traffic stop in February a “21st Century Rosa Parks moment,” prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump demanded that the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office immediately fire the officer who can be seen punching McNeil twice in the face in a social media video that has drawn nationwide attention.
McNeil, 22, spoke publicly and briefly on Wednesday alongside his mother, stepfather and attorneys at St. Paul Church of Jacksonville.
The video he shared on social media shows him being punched and dragged from his car by JSO officers, who initially said they pulled him over because his headlights weren’t on. It was daylight, and no rain could be seen in McNeil’s video or the body camera videos shared by Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters.
“I just really wanted to know why I was getting pulled over and I needed to step out the car,” McNeil Jr. said. “I know I didn’t do nothing wrong. I was really just scared.”
Crump said the reason McNeil Jr. was really pulled over should be very clear.
“This was a classic case of ‘Driving while Black.’ I applaud William McNeil for keeping his demeanor, his calmness,” Crump said.
After the news conference, JSO released a statement on social media, saying in part that the agency would not be providing any further comment regarding the video.
“In light of William McNeil Jr.’s public announcement that he has retained counsel, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office will not offer any further comment regarding the circumstances surrounding McNeil’s February 19th arrest. Our agency has publicly released body-worn camera footage pertaining to this matter, and I provided a briefing on the status of the investigation earlier this week. This publicly shared information is currently available on all JSO’s social media platforms and our transparency portal. However, in anticipation of litigation, our agency will not speak further on this matter.”
Sheriff T.K. Waters
Attorney Harry Daniels, who has represented other young Black men in cases involving the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, also praised McNeil for “controlling himself in the face of brutality.”
McNeil’s attorneys said he represents “the best we had to offer.”
“He had never been arrested, never been convicted of any crime, and you can see from everything that happened on the video, he was a very measured young man,” Crump said.
McNeil is a biology major at Livingstone College, a Christian HBCU in Salisbury, North Carolina. His mother said he’s a self-taught musician who can play the trombone, keyboard and drums.
The president of Livingstone College was also at the news conference and said McNeil volunteers to play in the band and can often be seen helping fix cars for other college students who can’t afford the repairs.
McNeil’s mother said he’s a mentor to other young men in the neighborhood.
“William was doing everything right. A college student... Doing what’s required of him to be a better person,” Daniels said. “All he did was exercise his fundamental rights, his God-given rights to ask a simple question: Why are you stopping me?”
Footage of McNeil’s arrest has sparked nationwide outrage, with civil rights lawyers accusing authorities of fabricating their arrest report.
The video McNeil shared on social media shows the young Black man sitting in the driver’s seat and asking to speak to a JSO supervisor before officers broke his driver’s side window, punched him in the face, pulled him from the vehicle, punched him again, and threw him to the ground.
But Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said Monday that there’s more to the story than the cellphone video that went viral.
He released bodycam footage from three officers who were involved in the traffic stop, including Officer D.J. Bowers, the one who can be seen punching McNeil twice in the social media video.
The body camera footage that was released does not show the punches that can be clearly seen in McNeil’s video, and Bowers’ arrest report for McNeil does not mention the two strikes to McNeil’s face.
The report also accuses McNeil of reaching for a knife on the floorboard of the car. None of the video from the traffic stop appears to show McNeil reaching for anything.
The cellphone footage from the Feb. 19 arrest shows that seconds before being dragged outside, McNeil had his hands up and did not appear to be resisting as he asked, “What is your reason?” He had pulled over and accused of not having his headlights on, even though it was daytime, his lawyers said.
The officers told McNeil he needed to have his headlights on because of the weather.
“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,” lawyers Ben Crump and Harry Daniels said in a statement.
Crump is a Black civil rights attorney who has gained national prominence representing victims of police brutality and vigilante violence.
“William was calm and compliant,” they said. “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.”
Waters warned the public about “a rush to judgment” that could lead to faulty conclusions. The sheriff said the cellphone camera footage from inside the car “does not comprehensively capture the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
“Part of that stems from the distance and perspective of the recording cellphone camera,” the sheriff said in a statement, adding that the video did not capture events that occurred before officers decided to arrest McNeil.
Cameras “can only capture what can be seen and heard,” the sheriff added. “So much context and depth are absent from recorded footage because a camera simply cannot capture what is known to the people depicted in it.”
McNeil’s lawyers say the video clearly depicts police brutality.
Body camera footage of the encounter shows McNeil had been repeatedly told to exit the vehicle. And, though McNeil earlier had his car door open while talking with authorities, he later closed and appeared to keep it locked for about 3 minutes before officers forcibly removed him, the video shows.
