Police say no bodycam video of Scheffler arrest

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A spokesman for the Louisville Metro Police Department confirmed to ESPN on Saturday that the officer who arrested world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler outside the gates of Valhalla Golf Club early Friday didn’t have his bodycam video recorder activated during the incident.

Earlier Saturday, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg told the Louisville Courier-Journal that he wasn’t certain if Detective Bryan Gillis was wearing a bodycam at the time of the traffic stop, but that it wasn’t turned on if he was. Greenberg said there was footage captured from a fixed camera across the street, which would be released in the coming days.

In a response to ESPN on Saturday, a public information officer for Louisville police said Greenberg’s statement was accurate.

“There is no body-worn camera footage of the initial encounter,” the police spokesman said in an email. “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.”

The public information officer also emailed a copy of the department’s standard operating procedures for body-worn cameras (BWC), which were revised in December 2022. Section 4.31.6 of the procedures states that officers are required to “maintain their BWC in a constant state of operational readiness.”

“The BWC will be used to record all calls for service and law enforcement activities/encounters (e.g. arrests, citations, stops, pursuits, Code 3 operations/responses, searches, seizures, interviews, identifications, use of force incidents, collisions, transports, warrants, official conversations on departmental smartphones, etc.),” the procedures said. “Members are mandated to adhere to the following procedures in order to capture law enforcement-related activity.”

The procedures further state that officers “will immediately activate their BWC in recording mode prior to engaging in all law enforcement activities or encounters.”

When ESPN asked if Gillis was supposed to have his BWC activated when he encountered Scheffler, the spokesman replied, “What we have shared with you is what is available at this time.”

There is a dispute to what happened in the minutes before Scheffler was arrested. Traffic was backed up following a fatal accident around 5 a.m. ET Friday, in which an employee of a vendor was struck and killed by a bus while trying to cross the road to Valhalla, the site of this week’s PGA Championship.

A police incident report said Gillis was standing in the middle of the westbound lanes when Scheffler’s SUV pulled into the lanes to avoid traffic. The report said Gillis was wearing a full police uniform and a “high-visibility yellow reflective rain jacket.”

Gillis stopped Scheffler’s SUV and attempted to give him instructions. The report said Scheffler “refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging Detective Gillis to the ground.”

Gillis was transported to a hospital by emergency medical personnel for evaluation. According to the report, he suffered “pain, swelling and abrasions” to his left wrist and knee. His pants were also damaged beyond repair.

Scheffler, 27, faces charges of second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic. The assault charge is a felony; the others are misdemeanors.

Scheffler was booked into jail Friday morning and released without bail at 8:40 a.m. ET. An arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET.

When a Courier-Journal reporter asked Greenberg whether the charges against Scheffler would be dismissed, the mayor said, “Right now, the case is in the hands of our county attorney, and we’ll let the legal process play out.”

Scheffler returned to Valhalla and played in the second round. After shooting a 66, he called the incident a “big misunderstanding” and a “chaotic situation.”

“That’ll get resolved, I think fairly quickly,” Scheffler said Friday.