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New Bodycam Footage Released — Scottie Scheffler Claims Officer Did Not Identify Himself As Police, Hit Him With Flashlight

We just learned a lot of new details in the case of pro-golfer Scottie Scheffler’s arrest a few weeks ago.

Let me see if I can recap what we just learned, at least according to Scheffler’s claims:

Scheffler arrived to the course in the early morning hours to get ready for the tournament that day.

He was driving slowly and following all guidelines.

He acted clam, cool and collected — and even respectfully — at all times by all accounts.

A police officer comes up to his car, doesn’t identify himself as a police officer, yells at him to “get out of the car” and then hits him with his flashlight.

Wow.

Take a look and watch the video below:

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🚨 JUST IN: Body cam footage shows tense exchange between top golfer Scottie Scheffler and a police officer during his arrest. Scheffler, who was respectful throughout, claimed he was struck with a flashlight without warning.

“I was scared. He didn’t say ‘Police! Get out of the car!’ He just hit me and yelled.”

Scheffler also described the officer as overly aggressive. He’s facing four charges, including second-degree felony assault after the officer alleged he was “dragged” by the car. 📹 #BreakingNews #ScottieScheffler #Police #BodyCamFootage

Folks, is this really the America we want?

Is this the police force we want?

Most police are good people but we can’t let the bad apples ruin it for the rest of them.

Police your own, police force.

You are given power over regular citizens for TWO reasons only:  to PROTECT and SERVE.

It appears you did neither in this case.

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And when you fail your two founding mandates, and bleed over into abuse of private citizens, that’s when your authority ends and YOU should be the ones facing charges.

I’m so sick of the wrong people being charged with crimes….

Trump did nothing wrong, it’s Michael Cohen and the phony prosecutors in all of these cases who should be on trial!

Similarly, Scottie Scheffler appears to have done nothing wrong, it’s this officer who should be placed on trial for his actions!

We don’t need power-tripping officers playing dress-up in their little uniforms going out and doing crap like this to private citizens.

Sorry folks, but I’m not a blind police apologist….

Officers don’t get a blank check.

I support the good ones and I greatly appreciate the ones who protect and serve and put their lives at risk to do so.

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I don’t respect this.

And as they say on Shark Tank, “and for all of these reasons, I’m out.”

Actually, that’s a paraphrase….

But in this case it’s more like: “and for all of these reasons, case dismissed!”

BREAKING: Judge Dismisses Charges Against Scottie Scheffler

When the story first broke about Scottie Scheffler, I honestly did not know who he was.

I’m not a golfer or a fan of golf, and other than Tiger Woods and a few others, I don’t really know much about golfers.

So I’m not a fanboy.

But the more I looked into his arrest from a couple weeks ago, the more fishy it became.

After investigating and reporting on the news for over 10 years, you start to develop a pretty keen read on situations, and this one didn’t smell right.

It felt much more like police over-reach than anything this man did wrong.

I wrote about that here:

WATCH: New Video Footage Released That Shows No. 1 Golfer, Scottie Scheffler, Did Nothing Wrong!

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And now our reporting has once again been completely validated as the Judge in the case just dismissed the charges.

I love this post:

You can watch the exact moment in court right here:

As we reported very early on, this appeared to be a case of police over-reaction.

Police exist to PROTECT and SERVE.

That's it.

Period.

Full stop.

They did neither in this case.

They appeared to be on a power trip.

Most police are good people and we Back The Blue here, but we don't back the bad apples.

We don't back the poop in the ice cream that ruins it for everyone else.

Have you heard about the poop in the ice cream?

Allow me to explain....

Imagine you had a huge gallon of ice cream.  Brand new container.  But then imagine a small speck of poop got into that ice cream.....

Are you eating around the poop and pretending like the rest of the ice cream is just fine?

No, of course not.

You're throwing that entire galloon of ice cream away.

Why?

Because just a little poop in the ice cream ruins the whole thing.

Such is the case with bad cops.

New body cam footage was also released today and Scheffler claims he was hit by the officer with a flashlight:

JUST IN: Body cam footage released between number one ranked golfer Scottie Scheffler and a police officer after he was arrested.

Scheffler seemed respectful throughout the conversation and said he was “hit” with a flashlight.

“I was afraid. I did not know who he was. He didn't say ‘Police! Get out of the car!’ He just hit me with his flashlight and yelled ‘Get out of the car!’”

Scheffler also said the officer was over aggressive.

He was booked on four charges, including a second-degree felony assault of an officer after the officer claimed he was “dragged” by Scheffler’s car.

Folks, do we have an out of control police officer here?

Someone who needs penalized or removed from the force?

Look what Fox News reports about the officer's actions -- the officer is already placed on "corrective action" because he did not have his body camera on -- gee, I wonder why:

The charges against 10-time PGA Tour winner Scottie Scheffler were dropped on Wednesday, nearly two weeks after he was arrested just before the second round of the PGA Championship in Kentucky.

Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell addressed the court and stated that the evidence gathered during their investigation backed up Scheffler's claim that the entire situation was a "misunderstanding." The four charges, which included felony assault over injuries a Louisville Metro Police Department officer sustained during the encounter on May 17, were dismissed.

Last week, Louisville Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel announced during a press conference that Detective ​​Bryan Gillis received "corrective action" after an internal investigation found that he did not follow proper protocols by failing to turn on his body camera.

"We understand the seriousness of the failure to capture this interaction, which is why our officer has received corrective action for this policy violation," Gwinn-Villaroel said at the time. This corrective action has been notated on a performance observation form, which is in line with our disciplinary protocol and practices. We respect the judicial process, and we will allow the course to proceed accordingly. We will not be able to make any further statements as relates to this matter."

Watch more here:

And from our original reporting:

WATCH: New Video Footage Released That Shows No. 1 Golfer, Scottie Scheffler, Did Nothing Wrong!

Last week we brought you this report of the World's #1 Golfer, Scottie Scheffler, being arrested before teeing off on Friday of the PGA Championship:

World No. 1 Golfer Arrested Before PGA Championship, Tees Off Later That Day

Police claim he barreled past them, didn't listen to their warnings, resisted arrest, and more.

In fact, here's the full list: "assaulting a police officer, criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding traffic signals."

Wow, that's quite the list of charges!

I bet the video shows him WILDLY out of control, right?

Errrrrr, ummmmmm......no.

Not even close.

Take a look at the video just released today and you'll see about the most normal, calm interaction you could imagine:

Collin Rugg reports the following:

JUST IN: Footage released of number 1 ranked golfer Scottie Scheffler getting arrested while turning into the parking lot before the second round of the PGA Championship.

Talk about an overreaction.

The footage shows Scheffler turning left into the Valhalla parking lot before the officer appeared to attach himself to the side of the car.

The grainy footage is the only footage available at the moment because the officer did not activate his bodycam.

Despite this, the charges were not dropped against Scheffler who is facing up to 10 years in prison for second-degree assault.

And another view here, from the Dashcam view:

This is the dash cam view of Scottie Scheffler crawling past the coach at about 5 mph with an officer chasing him. As soon as the officer gets close to the vehicle Scottie immediately brakes. 2 minutes later he’s been arrested and you can see the reporter following the officers and being stopped.

This is a terrible look for the LMPD.

Look, I don't know exactly what happened here, but I don't know what else Scheffler could have done.

This looks like a GROSS OVERREACTION by the police.

But they're not backing down.

They are continuing to press charges and double down.

Full report here:

People are calling the charges "absolutely insane":

Others are outright calling the police story "fabricated" (and the video seems to back them up):

Scheffler's attorney says they are ready to litigate:

So what is going on here?

I'd like to go on record as saying I 100% support the police, but that is a two-way street.

Far too often, we see power trips and abuses of power.

Why blow this up into an international incident?

The man seems to have done everything right.  What else was he supposed to do?

I'd also like to say I'm not writing this as a fanboy.

I don't watch golf.

Don't have any golf heroes.

Until this happened, I honestly couldn't have told you almost anything about Scottie Scheffler, but now I kind of like him!

Team Scheffler!

We'll continue to monitor this story and bring you future updates.

If you missed our original reporting, I'll copy it below:

World No. 1 Golfer Arrested Before PGA Championship, Tees Off Later That Day

Now here's something you don't see everyday.

A great tale that will go down in the history books.

Around 6 a.m. ET, Friday, Scottie Scheffler was handcuffed and detained for allegedly not following a police officer's instructions while entering the Valhalla Golf Club.

Two hours later, the world No. 1 golfer found himself in a holding cell.

He was supposed to compete in the PGA Tournament that day.

"Why is this happening to me? Why is everything going wrong? Of course this would happen during the tournament," is what many might be prone to say. Many might also slump in the corner and resolve themselves to defeat. "What else can I do? I'm stuck!"

BUT that's not what he did.

He remained calmed.

In fact, he did what all of us should do in uncertain moments.

And that is, 'act as if'.

How did he 'act as if'?

He started to warm up.

Why on earth would he warm up for a tournament? He can't play, he's locked away. 'It's hopeless, it's pointless!' many would say.

'Acting as if' is basically activating your faith.

Whether Scottie knew it or not, his act of stretching his muscles was basically stretching his faith, saying, "I'm getting ready for what I know I'm supposed to do today, despite what the circumstances say."

And that's when the unexpected tends to happen.

MSN reports:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Sometime around 8 a.m. ET Friday, world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler was sitting in a holding cell at the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections, watching himself being arrested on TV.

About two hours earlier, Scheffler had been handcuffed and detained for allegedly not following a police officer's instructions while trying to drive into the entrance of Valhalla Golf Club, the site of this week's PGA Championship.

"I was just so confused at what was happening at the time," Scheffler said. "I didn't know what time it was. I didn't know what was going on. When I was sitting in the holding cell or whatever, there was a TV there and I could see myself on the TV, on ESPN.

"'Get Up' was on, so in the corner it showed the time and it said they were delayed, and I was kind of thinking about my tee time. I was like, 'Well, maybe I could be able to get out.'"

Scheffler, who described the situation with the police officer as a "big misunderstanding" and a "chaotic situation," wouldn't comment on the specifics of what exactly happened.

"I came here for a golf tournament," Scheffler said. "I was driving in this morning, trying to get to my warmup time and get ready for the round of golf. I didn't really have an understanding of what had transpired this morning."

The end of his strange and stressful day came around 3:30 p.m. ET, when Scheffler walked off the ninth hole, his 18th of the day, with playing partners Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman. Somehow, Scheffler posted a 5-under 66 for a 36-hole total of 9 under, which was good enough for a tie for second place, 2 shots behind then-clubhouse leader Collin Morikawa.

Only hours earlier, Scheffler wasn't sure he would be released from jail to make his tee time, let alone stay in contention for his second straight victory in a major championship.

Traffic outside the golf course had been stopped after an employee of a vendor was struck and killed by a shuttle bus while crossing the road around 5 a.m. ET.

What happened next is in dispute. In a statement earlier Friday, Scheffler said "there was a big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do. I never intended to disregard any of the instructions."

However, a Louisville Metro Police Department arrest report released Friday said Det. Bryan Gillis was dragged to the ground and suffered "pain, swelling and abrasions" to his left wrist and knee after Scheffler's SUV accelerated.

Gillis was transported to a hospital by emergency medical personnel for evaluation. The report said his uniform pants were also damaged beyond repair.

Scheffler faces charges of second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic. The assault charge is a felony; the others are misdemeanors.

An arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET.

"That'll get resolved, I think fairly quickly," Scheffler said.

During his post-round news conference, Scheffler offered condolences to the family of John Mills, who was struck and killed by the bus.

"One day he's heading to the golf course to watch a tournament," Scheffler said. "A few moments later he's trying to cross the street, and now he's no longer with us. I can't imagine what they're going through. I feel for them. I'm sorry."

Scheffler, 27, said he tried to defuse the situation once he was handcuffed and arrested.

"I was just sitting there in the back of the car, just listening to the police officer as he's trying to figure out who I am, figure out my name," Scheffler said. "They were trying to find me in the system, but there was something wrong with going across state lines with the Social Security number and stuff like that. All around, it was a very confusing and chaotic situation, but I did my best to just follow instructions and do as I was told as I was sitting there handcuffed."

Scheffler said he tried his best to remain calm throughout the round and focus on his game. He did admit that getting inside the ropes helped, as did the support from the fans.

"I was grateful to be able to go out there and compete, and yeah, it was definitely a nice round of golf," Scheffler said. "I've kept myself in the tournament now with a pretty chaotic day."

Scottie ends his day signing autographs for the kids.

What a champ!

Here's his post-tournament interview:

If you feel like you're stuck in your current situation, what could you do right now that would be like Scheffler 'stretching in prison' preparing for his release?

Act like the situation will turn around.

Make plans for the future despite what the current situation is.

That's faith right there.

Do what you can do.

Act as if.

And stretch.

(cue: The Legend of Bagger Vance theme)

,

 

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