JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WFLA) — Videos went viral on social media following an incident with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, employing civil rights attorneys Harry Daniel and Ben Crump.
22-year-old William McNeill Jr. hired an attorney after 19 cases.
“JSO officials smashed the windows wildly and punched their faces multiple times after asking them to speak with the supervisor,” the press release said.
Current viral video footage shows McNeil asked the officer why he was pulled, and responded by saying that the officer did not have his headlights.
McNeill told JSO officials it was daylight and there was no rain, but the officer told them, “That’s not a problem.”
“It’s clear to anyone watching this video that William McNeal is not a threat to anyone,” Crump said. “He was calmly exercising his constitutional rights, so they defeated him.”
In the video, you can hear the voices of officers that are not on camera and ask McNeill to get out of the car. McNeill then asked him to speak to the supervisor before another officer smashed the side window in the driver’s seat and punched McNeill into his face.
“I’m absolutely tired of the actions of these executives, but unfortunately I’m not surprised,” Daniels said. “The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has a long history of this kind of unnecessary violence and cruelty.”
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has issued a statement.
We know of videos circulating on social media indicating traffic outages, expressed from February 19, 2025. We have launched an internal investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident. We are committed to keeping our officers at the highest standards and determining exactly what happened.
