Scottie Scheffler's Arrest Has Golf World Reflecting on Police Excess

Lina PortmanMay 27, 2024

0 4 minutes read

For golf fans and everyone who expressed great outrage over Scottie Scheffler's arrest and are suddenly examining how police departments operate and how some of them, dammit, abuse their power… to those fans who barely realize that the cops can walk away. that's too far…to those who ask in disbelief how a cop can be repeatedly disciplined and still be a cop…to those who digest how some cops are on power trips…well, To all of you, I say: welcome to the party, buddy.

In fact, welcome to America. If it took what looks increasingly like the summary arrest of a rich, super-powered golfer to make you pause and examine problematic police culture, I'll take it.

If there's any benefit to Scheffler's arrest, it's that it gets people who otherwise don't think about or believe in police excesses to think about it, even if they don't. is only for a millisecond. It's also fitting that the police department under scrutiny is the Louisville Metro Police Department, one of the most notorious police departments in the country.

Video footage released by police last week only added to suspicions that something about Scheffler's arrest was wrong. The most recent video shows Scheffler attempting to enter a parking lot when he is encountered by an officer who arrests him. The two men spoke and Scheffler was eventually removed from the vehicle and handcuffed.

The arresting officer, Detective Bryan Gillis, said he was giving directions to Scheffler and alleged that Scheffler “refused to comply and accelerated” in his car. The officer claimed in an incident report that he was dragged to the ground.

Louisville police officer reprimanded for not activating body camera during Scottie Scheffler incident

It's possible something happened out of camera range because buses are blocking part of the view. It's also possible that what the officer describes happened before the two men came within camera range. There may be another video of Scheffler doing what the officer claims he did.

The chances of these things happening seem low, however. One thing to note is the reaction of other people, presumably other cops, in the video. They don't seem alarmed. They certainly don't feel like they saw someone being dragged next to a car.

Steve Romines, Scheffler's attorney, reiterated after the video was released that his client was not at fault. “Our position is the same as it was (after the arrest), Scottie Scheffler did nothing wrong, we are not interested in settling the case,” Romines said. “Either we will try it or it will be rejected.”

Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said the department was disciplining the officer for not activating his body camera. It was actually a huge deal that the officer didn't do and the reason is because of a woman named Breonna Taylor. You should say his name.

This is where all of you new to the workings of certain cops need to pay attention. If you don't know the reputation of the Louisville Police Department, you should.

The department's current body camera policy was launched in 2020 after officers fatally shot Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, during a botched drug raid. At the time, plainclothes officers executing an arrest warrant were not required to wear body cameras. The new policy required all officers to turn on the camera “before engaging in all law enforcement activities and encounters.”

“After the recent past, activating body cameras is critically important for our police department to have evidence, maintain community trust and be transparent,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said during from a press conference last week.

The “recent past” Greenberg was referring to was obviously the Taylor murder.

None of this is to say that Gillis exaggerated what happened. We don't know if this is true. We may suspect it, but we don't know. Besides, no one compares what happened to Scheffler to what happened to Taylor. No one is that stupid.

It is a question of culture. If it turns out that the accusations against Scheffler are exaggerated, no one should be surprised, given the terrible history of the Louisville police. And not just them. Police services across the country.

The entire Black Lives Matter movement focuses on police abuse and its impact extends to almost every part of American culture, including the WNBA and NFL. The protests after Taylor's killing, and also after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer four years ago last Saturday, helped reshape the national debate on race. Most of the protests were multicultural.

But there was a part of the population who did not care about the demonstrations and who were even hostile to them. Falsely stating that they were mostly violent (they were not). Blue Lives Matter appeared as a filthy derivative of Black Lives Matter. On the right, an extremely pro-police narrative of believing the cops at all costs has emerged, and I can see a universe in which some of those people who express the most outrage at Scheffler are unable to see the irony of the situation. their current position in relation to the past.

After Taylor's death, the Justice Department released a scathing report on Louisville police, saying they had engaged in a practice and pattern of violating citizens' constitutional rights, particularly those of black citizens .

“For years, LMPD has practiced an aggressive style of policing that it deploys selectively, particularly against Black people, but also against vulnerable people throughout the city,” the report states. “LMPD cites people for minor crimes, like wide turns and broken tail lights, while serious crimes like sexual assault and homicide go unsolved.”

The city and police are negotiating a consent decree, a type of federal oversight, with the Justice Department. This is an extreme measure used by the department for some of the worst police forces in the country.

So, once again, welcome to those who are new to thinking about how certain cops work.

Oh, and while you're here, let me tell you about racism and mass incarceration…

Lina Portman

Related Articles

Police identify Grand River drowning victim

Teen arrested for gun store burglary, 34 stolen weapons recovered

Stevenson Highway shooting: 1 injured in crash after car shooting on I-55 in Near South Side, Illinois State Police say

Body of man found by hiker in Shadow Hills area identified