Scottie Scheffler charges dismissed after arrest at PGA Championship
Prosecutors in Kentucky have dismissed assault charges against the world’s No.1 golfer who was arrested after a traffic incident outside the US PGA Championship.
Criminal charges against world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler have been dismissed by a Kentucky court, ending a brief and stunning fracas that upended the second major of the golf season.
In Louisville on Wednesday, Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell said he agreed with Scheffler’s characterization that the incident, which resulted in four charges including assault of a police officer, was a misunderstanding in the wake of a separate fatality. The seven-minute hearing ended a 12-day saga that saw the best golfer around wear an orange jumpsuit and compete in a major championship on the same day.
O’Connell said that he had concluded, after a week-long investigation, that while the detective who stopped Scheffler had been concerned for public safety, “Mr. Scheffler’s actions and the evidence surrounding their exchange during this misunderstanding do not satisfy the elements of any criminal offenses.” Soon after, Jefferson County District Court judge Anne Delahanty agreed to dismiss the matter, adding that in sixty days it would be eligible to be expunged.
Steve Romines, Scheffler’s attorney, said after the hearing that he believed Scheffler could have sued the police, but he wouldn’t do so because it would be a distraction to his historic season and any costs would fall to the taxpayers of Louisville.
“Scottie is a victim here,” Romines said.
When Scheffler attempted to enter Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., on May 17 before the second round of the PGA Championship, he arrived to a chaotic scene after a person had been struck and killed by a shuttle bus just outside the course that morning. Amid the predawn mayhem, with traffic at a standstill and police lights flashing, an officer stopped and arrested Scheffler -- and both sides quickly offered diverging accounts of what happened.
Police said that detective Bryan Gillis stopped Scheffler and attempted to give instructions, and when he refused to comply, Gillis suffered injuries as he was dragged to the ground. Romines disputed that, saying the superstar was proceeding as directed and never assaulted any officer with his vehicle. Romines added on Wednesday that eyewitness accounts and the available evidence showed the officer was never assaulted.
Scheffler was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from officers directing traffic.
Six days later, further doubt was cast on the Louisville police account of what took place. First, the city’s mayor and police chief said Gillis violated department policy by not turning on his body camera. Then the city released other available footage, from a dash cam and a pole camera across the street, and it did little to clarify why Scheffler had been arrested.
The pole camera in particular contained grainy footage that called into question Gillis’s version of events. In the distance, the video showed an officer stop a car attempting to drive into the course and after about a minute, the driver gets handcuffed. It did not show an officer getting knocked down and dragged. But clear and complete video of the incident wasn’t made public -- owing to the lack of body cam footage.
The videos also showed the chaos surrounding the course that day. It was rainy and still dark out, with the traffic that usually surrounds a big-time sporting event worsened by the man killed by the bus. Traffic was at such a standstill that some players simply got out of their cars and walked over a mile to get on the grounds.
For Scheffler, though, the question was whether he would make it back to Valhalla at all and be able to tee off as he sought to win his second consecutive major. Fans who were expecting to wake up and see the world’s best golfer readying on the driving range instead turned on their television to clips of him walking in handcuffs.
Those events only became more surreal. Following his arrest at just after 6 a.m., he was booked a little over an hour later and inside his holding cell, he stretched to prepare for his round. From that cell, he could also see a television replaying the news of his own arrest. He was released at 8:40 a.m., and around 20 minutes later he was spotted on the course after Valhalla officials sped him back.
Then an unfazed Scheffler proceeded to shoot one of the best rounds of the day and push his way toward the top of the leaderboard. Only an uncharacteristically poor round the next day held him back before he ultimately finished tied for eighth.
Romines, speaking outside the courthouse, assailed Louisville police and praised Scheffler’s poise throughout the situation, noting how he was polite to officers even after being arrested. He also said that Scheffler had no objection to returning to Louisville if the PGA Championship comes back.
“Who knows when that will be,” he added.
The Wall Street Journal
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