Attorneys for a 22-year-old Black man who was punched in the face by a white officer in Florida during a traffic stop filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday, seeking $100,000 in damages.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division, centers on a Feb. 19 encounter in which William McNeil Jr. was pulled over and allegedly hit in the face by Officer D. Bowers after he refused to get out of his car.
Bowers, Officer D. Miller, Sheriff Thomas Kevin Waters and the city of Jacksonville are named as defendants. McNeil says in the lawsuit that the impact fractured one of his teeth and caused a traumatic head injury. McNeil later pleaded guilty to resisting a police officer and driving on a suspended license.
The lawsuit claims the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office “enforces a policy that allows its officers to utilize unwarranted and excessive physical force against an individual who poses no immediate threat.”
It also claims the sheriff’s office allows officers to refrain from reporting instances when they use physical force on someone.
McNeil used his cellphone to capture his interaction with the officers.
He was pulled over for not having his headlights on, authorities said. But the video appeared to show it was daylight and not raining. Florida law requires that headlights be on from sunset to sunrise and during rain, smoke or fog.
“This was an unlawful stop,” said one of McNeil’s attorneys, Harry Daniels, during a news conference Wednesday. “He was stopped unjustly and we can unequivocally say it was not raining.”McNeil said during the news conference, “I hope my story gets heard today.”
In the video, McNeil is seen sitting in his car, asking to speak with a sergeant. McNeil continued to sit behind the steering wheel with his seat belt fastened after being told by the officers to exit the vehicle. He asked again to speak with a supervisor.
Moments later, the video shows Bowers breaking the driver’s-side window and punching McNeil in the face while instructing him to get out of the car and show his hands.
McNeil never filed a complaint with the department nor showed his video to authorities, according to the sheriff’s office.
Waters said McNeil’s failure to follow officers’ commands rose to the level of criminal resistance. The state attorney’s office cleared Bowers and two other officers of any criminal wrongdoing.
The suit comes just days after McNeil’s lawyers sent a letter to the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, saying they believe he was wrongly pulled over and assaulted during the traffic stop and asked the DOJ to determine whether McNeil’s civil rights were violated.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said this week that it could not comment on pending litigation. The city of Jacksonville did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
