Cop in Scottie Scheffler arrest committed ‘violation’: police chief
Louisville Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel chided Detective Bryan Gillis for not activating his bodycam during his confrontation with and arrest of Scottie Scheffer last Friday outside Valhalla Golf Club, calling it a “policy violation.”
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg previously confirmed there is no bodycam footage of the scene.
“Detective Gillis did have an encounter with Scottie Scheffler. Detective Gillis should have turned on his bodycam, but did not … Detective Gillis was counseled by his supervisor,” Gwinn-Villaroel said at a press conference Thursday.
Gwinn-Villaroel added that “corrective action” was taken against Gillis, who had reportedly been suspended multiple times before the Scheffler arrest.
The LMPD released two videos, one from a fixed pole camera and another from the dash cam of a police car.
The fixed pole camera video, which is four minutes long, appears to show a police officer chasing down Scheffler’s vehicle.
The dash cam video is 55 minutes long and features footage of vehicles and buses moving slowly with traffic police gathered on the street.
Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 golfer, was detained early last Friday ahead of the second round of the PGA Championship following a misunderstanding about traffic flow in the wake of a fatal accident involving a shuttle bus near Valhalla.
The two-time Masters champion, 27, had been attempting to make his way to the course and is alleged to have injured Gillis, who “suffered pain, swelling and abrasions to his left wrist and knee” and was hospitalized, per a citation report of the incident.
Scheffler was charged with a felony second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from officer directing traffic.
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Leading up to Thursday’s presser, CNN reported that some Louisville police officials found the felony assault charge against Scheffler “excessive.”
In a statement following last Friday’s ordeal, Scheffler said, “I was proceeding as directed by police officers. It was a very chaotic situation, understandably so considering the tragic accident that had occurred earlier, 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.”
Upon being released from custody, Scheffler made his tee time shortly after 10 a.m. May 17, finishing the second round with a 5-under 66.
“I feel like my head is still spinning,’’ Scheffler said after Friday’s round. “I can’t really explain what happened this morning. I was pretty rattled, to say the least. I was never angry. I was just in shock. I was shaking for like an hour. It was definitely a new feeling for me.
“The officer that took me to the jail was very kind. He was great. We had a nice chat in the car, that kind of helped calm me down. I was sitting there waiting to kind of go in and I asked him, ‘Hey, excuse me, can you just come hang out with me for a few minutes so I can calm down?’”
Scheffler, who fell out of contention on Saturday with a 2-over par 73, tied for eighth in the tournament with a total score of 13-under while Xander Schauffele claimed his first major win Sunday at 21-under.
The reigning Masters champion, who recently became a first-time parent with wife Meredith, is in the field for this weekend’s Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
Scheffler will tee off at 1:45 p.m. Thursday in the opening round.
