A Florida man, who appeared in a video being punched by officers from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, has secured civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels and Ben Crump.
William McNeil Jr., 22, hired the attorneys after the Feb. 19 incident.
The widely circulated footage captures McNeil inquiring about the reason for his traffic stop, to which an officer responds that McNeil was driving without headlights on.
McNeil said to the officers that it was daylight and wasn’t raining, but the officer said, “It doesn’t matter.”
The video records an off-camera officer asking McNeil to exit the vehicle. McNeil requests to speak with a supervisor, prompting another officer to shatter the driver’s side window and strike McNeil in the face.
“It should be obvious to anyone watching this video that William McNeil wasn’t a threat to anyone,” said Crump. “He was calmly exercising his constitutional rights, and they beat him for it.”
“I am absolutely disgusted by the actions of these officers but, unfortunately, I’m not surprised,” said Daniels. “The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has a long history of this kind of needless violence and brutality.”
In a statement on the incident, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said it had launched an investigation.
“We are aware of a video circulating on social media showing a traffic stop represented to be from February 19, 2025. We have launched an internal investigation into it and the circumstances surrounding this incident. We hold our officers to the highest standards and are committed to thoroughly determining exactly what occurred.”
