Curtis Fallgatter, who has over three decades of legal experience and once served as a federal chief assistant prosecutor, found the video footage unsettling.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A traffic stop in Jacksonville from February is still drawing national focus after body camera and cellphone videos revealed police breaking the car window of 22-year-old William McNeil Jr. and forcibly pulling him from his vehicle.
Curtis Fallgatter, with his extensive background of more than 30 years as a former federal chief assistant prosecutor, assessed the footage and described the actions of the officers as concerning.
“It’s a traffic stop,” said Fallgatter. “To have them bust out a window and then smack the young man in the jaw when he’s got his hands up and he’s being polite. It’s a clear case of police brutality on what should have been a simple traffic stop, if at all.”
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says McNeil was stopped for not having headlights on in inclement weather and not wearing a seatbelt.
Body camera video shows officers telling McNeil several times to exit the vehicle and warning him they would break his window. McNeil is seen asking for a supervisor before the window is shattered.
“The punch through the window is incredibly violent,” Fallgatter added. “Then they keep punching him when he gets out. Why? There’s four officers. They’re big guys, and he’s not fighting them.”
Officers claimed McNeil reached toward a knife on the car’s floorboard, but Fallgatter disagreed, based on McNeil’s cellphone video.
“They’re false claims,” he said. “It’s really a part of the efforts to justify what they’ve done. They beat up a young man. Let’s look for everything we can to try to justify what we’ve done. You know, the video is crystal clear. Hands are up, knives on the floor. He’s not reaching for anything.”
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters addressed the knife, stating it is unclear from the body camera footage where McNeil’s hands were at all times.
“I’m not trying this case in front of the public,” Waters said. “I’m trying to give the public the information in context of what happened. No one saw his hands at that point. Don’t know what happened from there, but that’s part of the investigative process.”
Fallgatter offered advice for people faced with similar situations.
“My advice to folks is if the cop tells you to do something, do it, deal with it later, but you kno,w don’t put yourself in any position where you’re now in harm’s way of being harmed by the officer,” he said.
McNeil’s attorneys Ben Crump and Harry Daniels point to his injuries, including stitches and chipped teeth, as evidence of excessive force.
The sheriff says the State Attorney’s Office found the officers’ actions did not violate the law. Fallgatter disagreed.
“Those are civil citations where you should have gotten a piece of paper saying show up in court, not get beat up,” he said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says its internal administrative investigation into the incident remains open.
