Jacksonville officer shown in viral video of rough arrest could face criminal charges, attorney says
An officer for the Jacksonville Sheriff s Office could face criminal charges after viral video shows the officer making a rough arrest according to an attorney Attorney Chris Carson is one of thousands of people reacting to a video that sparked JSO to open an scrutiny into one of their own officers I will say that video seems very over-the-top in terms of the officer s behavior revealed Carson The video starts with William McNeil Jr being pulled over by officers on Feb McNeil contends he was being pulled over for not having his headlights on during the cloudy conditions that day I reported So what did I do wrong He announced Well for one your headlights are off under this weather ' McNeil reported officers in the video When he locked himself in the car and questioned for a supervisor things hastily escalated An officer standing outside McNeil s window breaks the window and hits McNeil in the face Moments later multiple officers can be seen forcing McNeil to the ground with one officer throwing another punch that struck him near the jaw Carson after watching the video believes the officer s use of force appears to be unjustified It doesn t really seem there was really any criminal behavior that was alleged on the part of the gentleman It s a traffic stop It happens hundreds of times a day mentioned Carson Following the rough arrest McNeil posted on social media saying he suffered a chipped tooth a concussion required nine stitches in his lip and suffered short-term memory loss There are definitely are circumstances where force can be warranted but from everything that we re seeing in the context of this video I just don t really see it there and frankly it seems unnecessary announced Carson Carson declared the legal issues could go beyond guidelines violations for the sheriff s office he believes civil action may be accomplishable as well as accomplishable criminal charges against that officer We have seen cases over the years I ve handled cases where law enforcement officers were literally charged with crimes for things that they did in the program of their police work That is something albeit it is rare but it certainly legally can happen revealed Carson Officers stated they determined a large unsheathed serrated knife inside of McNeil s custody and ultimately took him into custody McNeil plead guilty to resisting a police officer without violence and driving on a suspended license JSO reported the officers have been cleared of all criminal wrongdoing by the State Attorney s Office however their internal review is ongoing The sheriff also announced at no time since the February episode has McNeil filed a complaint
