Video shows Florida deputies punching and dragging a Black man from his car

A video showing Florida deputies punching and dragging a Black man from his car during a traffic stop has sparked nationwide outrage with civil rights lawyers accusing officers of fabricating their arrest statement William McNeil Jr was sitting in the driver s seat asking to speak to the Jacksonville deputies supervisor when functionaries broke his window punched him in the face pulled him from the carriage punched him again and threw him to the ground The footage from the Feb arrest shows that seconds before being dragged outside McNeil had his hands up and did not appear to be resisting as he solicited What is your reason He had pulled over and accused of not having his headlights on even though it was daytime his lawyers reported What happened to William McNeil Jr is a disturbing reminder that even the preponderance basic rights like asking why you ve been pulled over can be met with violence for Black Americans lawyers Ben Crump and Harry Daniels noted in a declaration Crump is a Black civil rights attorney who has gained national prominence representing sufferers of police brutality and vigilante violence William was calm and compliant they declared 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 Jacksonville Sheriff T K Waters reported the cellphone camera footage from inside the car does not comprehensively capture the circumstances surrounding the circumstance Part of that stems from the distance and perspective of the recording cell phone camera the sheriff mentioned in a message 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 completely cannot capture what is known to the people depicted in it McNeil was charged with resisting a police officer without violence driving with a suspended license and having less than grams of marijuana Waters noted He pleaded guilty to the charges of resisting an officer and driving with a suspended license Waters commented McNeil was warned seven times that he needed to open his car door and get out or officers would be forced to break his car window the sheriff commented After McNeil was removed from the car officers exposed a large serrated knife on the driver s side floor of the car Waters reported Waters commented the sheriff s office on Sunday became aware that the cellphone video was circulating on social media Investigations then began and the State Attorney s Office determined that no officers violated any criminal laws he reported at a news briefing An administrative review to determine whether officers violated any department policies is still ongoing he noted Source