JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The attorneys for Will McNeil Jr., the man at the center of a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office traffic stop that went viral and prompted outrage and investigations, announced Monday they will be filing a federal lawsuit against the officer involved in the arrest and the City of Jacksonville.
McNeil‘s attorneys, civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels and Ben Crump, are also calling for a United States Department of Justice investigation into the arrest.
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In a news release, the attorneys focused on a 16-page investigative report from the State Attorney’s Office (SAO).
According to the report, Officer D.J. Bowers used two instances of physical force during the arrest, an “open-hand strike” and a punch, to gain compliance. The first strike to the face was captured on video and shared on social media, which drew a response from Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters.
The SAO said the open-handed strike, which was shown in a screen grab from the video, served a “legitimate tactical purpose” to get McNeil out of the SUV and to show his hands, which McNeil did after the strike.
Bowers’ arrest report for McNeil did not mention the first strike to the face.
When asked why he did not report the hit in his Response to Resistance report, Bowers explained he considered his use of the “distraction strike” as a tool and did not consider it as the deployment of force, according to investigators.
“Officer Bowers’ explanation is credible considering his stated training and the fact that he wrote a Response to Resistance report memorializing his closed fist punch to McNeil,” the SAO report states.
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The SAO said it confirmed this technique is taught in the Defensive Tactics curriculum at the Northeast Florida Criminal Justice Training and Education Center, also known as the “Academy.” Officer Bowers said his intended purpose in using this tactic was not to injure McNeil, but to distract him so that they could take control of him.
The attorneys said they took issue with the State Attorney’s Office, which they said “expended considerable effort in their report to rationalize Officer Bower’s actions.”
The attorneys said video evidence demonstrates that McNeil was struck in the face by Officer Bowers while he was seated in his driver’s seat, without posing any threat to others or exhibiting resistance.
The SAO report said once McNeil was stopped, he refused to provide a license, registration, or proof of insurance, refused to exit the vehicle, and failed to follow lawful commands 12 times. Instead of getting out of the vehicle when Bowers ordered him to, McNeil shut and locked his door, and Bowers called for backup, the SAO said.
“McNeil’s refusal to provide his identification, registration, and proof of insurance, followed by his refusal to exit the SUV, show his hands, and obey the officers’ orders, created a dangerous situation for all involved,” SAO investigators wrote in the report.
Attorneys for McNeil also said video shows Mr. McNeil’s head being forcefully slammed to the pavement, resulting in a laceration of the chin, a laceration of the lip, a fractured tooth, and a clinically diagnosed traumatic brain injury.
The SAO said Bowers’ second strike, a “close-fisted punch to McNeil’s chin,” happened during McNeil’s arrest and was in response to McNeil’s physical resistance.
“It’s not just how violent and brutal these officers were. It’s that they were absolutely unapologetic because they knew no one was going to hold them accountable,” said Daniels. “It’s clear that the State Attorney’s Office refuses to do anything about it. So we’re calling on the Department of Justice.”
McNeil’s attorneys said that JSO rarely finds that its officers have violated the use-of-force policy, and provided stats that News4JAX was not immediately able to verify.
“The State Attorney’s Office failing to hold these officers accountable for their actions and clear disregard for the rule of law is as appalling as the beating itself,” said Crump.
The attorneys requested that the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division investigate whether the detention, arrest and use of force of Mr. McNeil violated 18 U.S. Code § 242, Deprivation of Rights under Color of Law.
No criminal charges against the officer will be pursued, the SAO said.
The attorneys are expected to hold a news conference on Wednesday morning to formally announce the federal lawsuit against Bowers and the City of Jacksonville.
McNeil is expected to speak at the news conference.