Images that excite outrage in the United States. A video filmed by a mobile phone and broadcast on social networks this Sunday, July 20 shows the violent arrest of a black man after a road check in Jacksonville, Florida.
This video that has become viral led to the office of the Sheriff of Jacksonville to open an investigation this Sunday on this incident on February 19, as well as to transmit on Monday the images of the cameras of the body of the police present in the scene of the arrest.
“The violent arrest of William McNeil in the United States has gone viral. All agents who use profiles and excessive strength must be responsible,” Amnesty International wrote on X on Wednesday, July 23. “No one is above the law. Everyone has the right to justice.”
Face
According to public made videos, William McNeil, Jr., 22, was the subject of a road check last February for not having turned on the headlights during the “bad weather” and not “using the seat belt.”
The reason for this control, the driver of the vehicle asks the agent to call his superior. An agent, identified as D. Bowers, then orders him to leave the car. After which, William McNeil, blocks in his vehicle and refuses to get out of him.
“This is your last warning: open the vehicle and leave before breaking the window,” we listen to the agent saying the video of the camera on board.
In the video filmed by the mobile phone from inside the car, we see that the police are broken by the Police and William McNeil, Jr., is hit on the face for the first time.
The driver raises his hands in the air at the request of the agents, again questioning the reason for his arrest, then we see him remove from the vehicle and then violently placed on the ground.
“Even the most fundamental rights can be mocked”
“What has happened to William McNeil Jr. reminds us in a disturbing way that even the most fundamental rights, such as asking why he has been arrested, can be breached by violence against African Americans,” said his lawyer Ben Crump in a statement.
“William was calm and cooperative. However, instead of obtaining answers, the window was broken and hit his face, all due to a questionable statement about his headlights in daylight,” he added.
According to CNN, driver’s lawyers said their client had undergone “a dental fracture, a brain shock and a head trauma.”
The Biology Student in North Carolina, according to our ABC colleagues, was arrested and accused of “arrest resistance without physical violence”, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, driving with a suspended permission, not port of the safety belt and driving without headlights in the rainy climate, fog or smoke.
“McNeil was arrested and declared himself guilty of having resisted a police officer without violence,” said Sheriff Tk Waters at a press conference on Monday. He was sentenced to two days in prison.
An agent “fired from their functions” during the investigation
According to the incident report, it is suspected that William McNeil Jr. has tried to catch a knife in the field of his vehicle while the agents forced their door.
If an administrative investigation is still being carried out, Sheriff TK Waters said that “the state prosecutor’s office had determined that none of the agents involved had violated the criminal law.”
“Pending the results of this administrative investigation, agent Bowers was eliminated from office,” he said without indicating whether other agents were affected.
The Sheriff also emphasized that “the images filmed by a mobile phone” “do not thoroughly reflect the circumstances surrounding the incident.” William McNeil Jr.’s lawyer, Harry Daniels, told Abcnews that they will do “everything possible to obtain justice.”
Source: BFM TV
