(AP) – Prosecutors “do not take any further action” against Florida Sheriff’s deputies in the arrest of a black college student who was pulled out of a vehicle during a traffic stop in February and was beaten by an officer.
The actions of Officer D. Bowers of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office did not constitute a crime, according to an investigation report released by the State Attorney’s Office for Florida’s Fourth Judicial Circuit.
The video showing Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters punching and dragging William McNeill out of his car sparked national rage.
In an investigative memo released Wednesday, prosecutors called the footage from their phone “incomplete within range,” saying the Bowers pulled McNeil and made a legitimate traffic stop when Bowers’ use of their force was justified.
“The State Attorney’s Office has considered this issue and determined whether Officer Bowers’ actions constitute a crime. We have concluded that this is not the case,” the report reads.
The Bowers stopped because McNeil hadn’t turned on the headlights and hadn’t tightened his seatbelt, according to the report.
Based on a review of officers body camera footage, prosecutors interviewing a statement made by McNeil and an officer related to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and McNeil said Bowers gave McNeil a dozen “legal orders.”
After the Bowers pulled him, McNeill questioned the suspension and refused to offer his license and registration. He previously had opened the car door while talking to the officer, but he later closed it and appeared to keep it locking for about three minutes before the officer forced him out, the video shows.
“It is the officer’s body decorative camera footage that provides the necessary context for the situation, surroundings and subsequent circumstances that precede McNeill’s arrest,” the report reads.
A statement from McNeill’s lawyers, Ben Crump and Harry Daniels, called the report “a mere attempt to justify the actions of Officer Bowers and his fellow officers after the facts.” Crump is a black civil rights lawyer and has achieved a nationally renowned acquisition to represent victims of police brutality and vigilante violence.
“Frankly, I didn’t expect much, after the sheriff released the conclusions more than three weeks before the report was issued,” the statement said. “They don’t want justice, so they must request that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate this case and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.”
Previously, Crump has vehemently criticised the prosecutor’s recognition, and officers have criticized the police for not committing criminal misconduct, saying that while officials trained to remove tensions are those who spread the violence, his clients remain calm. Crump said the incident thwarted the civil rights movement and filed a lawsuit when black people were often attacked when they tried to assert their rights.
