Civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Harry Daniels said 22-year-old William McNeil hired them after a video from a February traffic stop went viral.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A video capturing a traffic stop in February where Jacksonville police officers broke a car window and struck a man has gained viral attention. The individual involved has sought the help of well-known civil rights lawyers to take on his case.
The man, identified by his legal representatives as 22-year-old William McNeil Jr., appeared in a social media video shared on Sunday. The clip shows an incident from February 19, 2025, during a traffic stop.
Sunday night, civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Harry Daniels announced McNeil retained them to represent him.
READ MORE: Viral video shows JSO officer break car window, punch driver in the head during February traffic stop
In the footage, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officers explain they stopped McNeil because the car’s headlights were off. McNeil questioned the validity of the stop since it was not raining and daylight was still present.
An officer, who cannot be seen in the video, is heard saying, “It doesn’t matter, you’re still required to have headlights on.”
An officer asks McNeil to step out of the car, and when McNeil asks for the officer’s supervisor, another officer punches the driver’s window until it shatters. The officer then punches McNeil in the head before unlocking the vehicle door, unbuckling his seatbelt and forcibly removing him from the driver’s seat.
Once out of the vehicle, multiple officers then gather around McNeil. One officer is seen grabbing McNeil’s head and punching him in the chin before forcing him to the ground.
The video, posted early Sunday, has garnered hundreds of thousands of views online.
“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.”
“It should be obvious to anyone watching this video that William McNeil wasn’t a threat to anyone,” Crump added. “He was calmly exercising his constitutional rights and they beat him for it.”
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters issued a statement Sunday afternoon addressing the video, saying, “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.”
We asked First Coast News Crime and Safety Expert Ken Jefferson about the headlights law in Florida.
“What was the probable cause for the stop? The statute for pulling someone over for driving without your headlights is if it’s foggy, smoky or rainy. Based on the video I watched, it looked like the sun was out,” he said.
Daniels said it took months for his client to recover.
“His tooth went through his lip at some point. He had to get stitches. From getting slammed on the ground, he suffered a closed-head injury,” Daniels said.
He said the ideal outcome would be that the officers involved are held accountable.
“That officer that punched and beat him and the ones who watched and did nothing should be held to the same rule of law that everyone else is held to. Arrest and prosecution. That’s a perfect world,” Daniels said.
A JSO spokesperson told First Coast News the agency is unaware of any filed complaint matching the video description.
Additionally, Florida Rep. Angie Nixon posted on social media about the video Sunday, saying she reached out to the sheriff’s office to meet about the incident.
