Louisville mayor: There’s no body-worn camera footage of Scottie Scheffler’s arrest

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said there’s no body-worn camera footage from a Louisville Metro Police Department detective’s arrest of PGA golfer Scottie Scheffler Friday morning.

Greenberg said Detective Bryan Gillis’s body-cam either was not activated or he was not wearing it during the incident outside Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville media, including WDRB and the Courier-Journal, reported Saturday.

Greenberg told the Courier-Journal that to the best of his knowledge, the city had “not yet discovered any video of the initial contact between Officer Gillis and Mr. Scheffler.” He said the city did plan to release footage from a “fixed camera” nearby that captured the arrest, the newspaper reported.

“The statement from Mayor Greenberg is accurate,” the Louisville Metro Police Department said in a statement provided to the Herald-Leader Saturday evening. “There is no body-worn camera footage of the initial encounter. The incident is under review internally and will proceed through the judicial process. We would like to restate that all parties involved are fully cooperating. LMPD is committed to a thorough investigation for all involved.”

A fatality in which a pedestrian was hit by a shuttle bus had occurred outside the Shelbyville Road golf club Friday morning, causing the road to be closed in both directions, police said.

Scheffler, the world’s top-ranked golfer, was headed eastbound trying to get to the course for the second round of the PGA Championship when, according to the police report, he drove into the westbound lanes “to avoid backed up traffic.”

Gillis, who police said was wearing his uniform and a reflective yellow rain jacket, stopped him “to give instructions,” according to the report.

“Subject refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging Detective Gillis to the ground,” the report says. “Detective Gillis suffered pain, swelling, and abrasions to his left wrist and knee. He was transported to the hospital for further medical treatment by emergency medical personnel. Detective Gillis’ uniform pants, valued at approximately $80, were damaged beyond repair.”

Scheffler’s attorney, Steve Romines, disputed the account given in the police report and said Scheffler was following the instructions of another officer who had told him to go around stopped traffic, according to WLKY.

“There was never at any time, did the officer stop him, he disregard, accelerate, any of those things,” WLKY reported that Romines said.

Louisville police standard operating procedures require members of the department to use their cameras “to record all calls for service and law enforcement activities/encounters,” including stops and arrests.

Scheffler, 27, was arrested and charged with second degree assault of a police officer, third degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding signals from police officers directing traffic.

He was released in time to compete in the tournament Friday morning.

Scheffler released a statement to ESPN in which he expressed condolences to the family of the man who died and said he “never intended to disregard any of the instructions.”

He called the incident a “big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do.”