A Jacksonville man, William McNeil Jr., whose encounter with local police during a traffic stop has gone viral, has recruited the aid of high-profile civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Harry Daniels. As Action News Jax reported, the attorneys confirmed their representation of McNeil in what they describe as a fight for justice. Footage from the February 19 incident revealed McNeil being forcibly removed from his vehicle after officers broke his car window and one officer struck him in the face.
Following the release of the video on social media, it quickly gained attention, prompting reactions from the public and an internal investigation by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO); the video shows JSO officers shattering a car window, landing a punch on McNeil's face, before extracting him from his SUV. According to a statement from JSO, cited by First Coast News, the department is committed to holding their officers to the highest standards and fully ascertaining the events in question.
McNeil, who recorded the interaction and posted the video, claimed he was initially stopped due to an allegation that his headlights were off during inclement weather, a claim he disputes. An arrest report obtained by News4JAX corroborates that the traffic stop occurred in Jacksonville's Woodstock neighborhood around 4:17 p.m., although McNeil refutes the weather conditions cited by the officers and maintains that his seatbelt, which officers claimed was off, was fastened during the encounter.
During the traffic stop, McNeil, unable to comply with demands to roll down his malfunctioning window, opened his door to communicate with officers, and when requested to cite the law he had allegedly violated, he was told this would be shown once he stepped out of the car; after requesting for a supervisor, a subsequent verbal exchange led to the escalation seen in the video. According to the News4JAX, the official arrest report notes that McNeil became "verbally combative" and includes the arresting officer's assertion that after McNeil allegedly refused to exit the vehicle, he was informed he was under arrest for resisting an officer without violence, with the video then documenting McNeil calmly asking for the officer's reasoning as he is pulled from his seat and handcuffed.
