“We’re not interested in settling the case. We will either try it or it will be dismissed,” Attorney Steve Romines said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The attorney for professional golfer Scottie Scheffler said he “didn’t do anything wrong” after new videos were released by Louisville police Thursday showing his arrest.
One of them was a pole camera video from across the street and the other was from the dashcam of a Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) cruiser.
RELATED: New video shows Scottie Scheffler arrest; Louisville officer disciplined for not turning on body camera
Pole camera video from across the street shows Scheffler’s PGA-branded vehicle move past shuttles and an officer wearing a yellow vest appears to be seen chasing after the car waving his arms to get the attention of the driver. It’s unclear if the officer is Gillis or not as no bodycam video of the interaction has been made available.
From the perspective of the pole cam’s 4-minute video, there doesn’t appear to be an officer being “dragged to the ground” as mentioned in Scheffler’s arrest citation, which said Gillis’ $80 uniform pants were “damaged beyond repair.”
The officer appears to talk to Scheffler for a few seconds. More officers slowly begin walking toward the vehicle and within a minute, Scheffler is out of the vehicle and placed into handcuffs.
Video footage from the dashcam, which has no audio, shows what appears to be LMPD officers walking toward Scheffler and Gillis during the arrest.
“I’ve seen everything that there is to see,” Scheffler’s lawyer Attorney Steve Romines said in relation to the videos LMPD released. “Everything that is out there supports exactly what Scottie has said from the start.”
The LMPD officer who arrested Scheffler, Det. Bryan Gillis, has been disciplined for not using his bodycam video during the arrest.
Days after Scheffler’s arrest, LMPD determined Gillis violated the department’s Standard Operating procedures, specifically 4.31.6, Body-Worn Camera – Procedures and 4.31.7, Body Worn camera – Operations.
Gwinn-Villaroel said Gillis “should have turned on his body camera but did not.”
“We understand the seriousness of the failure to capture this interaction,” she added. “This corrective action has been notated on a performance observation form, which is in line with our disciplinary protocol and practices.”
The current policy says responding officers are to activate their cameras before arriving on-scene and exiting their car and before engaging in any law enforcement encounters.
“Gillis did not have his body worn camera operational ready as required by our policy,” Gwinn-Villaroel said. “He was performing a law enforcement action as defined in our policy.”
The chief said Gillis was counseled by his supervisor.
RELATED: Louisville mayor: There is no body camera footage from Scottie Scheffler’s arrest; attorney breaks down LMPD body camera policy
At this time, it does not appear LMPD will be dropping any of Scheffler’s charges. Greenberg said he understands there are still many unanswered questions, but city officials are going to “respect the legal process.”
Scheffler is expected to be in court on June 3 for his arraignment after it was delayed.
He is charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from officers directing traffic. The assault charge is a felony offense.
“Scottie Scheffler didn’t do anything wrong. We’re not interested in settling the case. We will either try it or it will be dismissed,” Romine said. “It’s very simple. All the evidence that continues to come out just continues to support what Scottie said all along. This was a chaotic situation and a miscommunication and he didn’t do anything wrong.”
“We’re prepared to litigate the case if we need to. If we don’t need to, fine, but our position remains the same,” Romines added.
“The Jefferson County Attorney’s office has continued to receive evidence and has yet to conduct final interviews with investigators regarding the charges filed by LMPD against Mr. Scheffler,” Josh Abner, a spokesman for the office, said. “As we have stated previously, no decisions have been made and our review continues.”
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