LOUISVILLE — Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg said that the police officer who arrested Scottie Scheffler either wasn’t wearing a body camera or didn’t have it activated at the time of the incident.
Scheffler was arrested on Friday morning outside Valhalla Golf Club ahead of the second round of the 2024 PGA Championship and charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, criminal mischief and reckless driving. Scheffler is alleged to have driven past a police officer against the officer’s instructions while trying to enter the club. Scheffler called the incident a misunderstanding, although a police report states that arresting officer Bryan Gillis was dragged by Scheffler’s car, which led to injury and damage of Gillis’ pants. Scheffler’s lawyer disputed the nature of the incident.
“[Scheffler] was proceeding as directed by another traffic officer and driving a marked player’s vehicle with credentials visible,” said Steve Romines, a local attorney hired to represent Scheffler, on Friday. “In the confusion, Scottie is alleged to have disregarded a different officer’s traffic signals resulting in these charges. Multiple eyewitnesses have confirmed that he did not do anything wrong but was simply proceeding as directed. He stopped immediately upon being directed to and never at any point assaulted any officer with his vehicle. We will litigate this matter as needed and he will be completely exonerated.”
An arraignment is scheduled for May 21, but it appears the situation will not be cleared up by police footage. On Saturday, Greenberg told local news outlets that Gillis did not have his video camera on.
“The officer did not have bodycam footage turned on during the incident. We will release the footage that we have,” said Greenberg in a report from Louisville TV station WDRB. “We did not have any … to my knowledge. We have not discovered any video of the initial contact between officer Gillis and Mr. Scheffler.”
Greenberg later added there was a camera across the street, with the hope that it showed when Scheffler was arrested that will eventually be released.
Scheffler returned to Valhalla on Saturday and shot a second-round 66. He will tee off at 1:29 p.m. in Round 3.